Family of Courage
by TMNTfan1
Summary: The next chapter of Annabelle Black's life begins, and her Fifth year proves to be even more eventful than expected. On top of OWLs and Quidditch, her father escapes Azkaban, Buckbeak may face persecution, she meets an old family friend, and an unwelcome face returns to Hogwarts. Sequel to House of Courage.
1. Start of Summer

A light tapping sound woke 15 year old Annabelle Black from her deep, cozy sleep. Blinking her eyes open, Anna turned over in her bed, looking around for the source until her eyes landed on her bedroom window. A Barn Owl that had a pure white front that faded into a golden brown and gray color on her head, back, and wings was sitting outside on her window sill.

Groaning, Anna threw her sheets off and stumbled out of her bed toward her window. She threw it open, letting a light summer breeze and her owl into the room. Ariel, her pet Barn Owl that she bought about three years ago, landed lightly on Anna's shoulder as she closed her window just enough to leave a crack.

"Alright, pretty girl, what do my goofball friends have to say?" Anna cooed to the bird, scratching her on her fluffy cheek before untying the small letter tied to her leg. Ariel nibbled affectionately on Anna's ear before flying across the room.

During the first few weeks of the summer, having nothing better to do with her time, Anna had built a more accommodating home for her owl so she wouldn't always have to sleep in her cage. So, she'd built a simple wooden box with a small, square opening so Ariel could build a nest inside. She'd placed the box on top of her small bookshelf in her bedroom next to her desk, and in the corner of the room next to it Anna had placed a small tree with no leaves and a smooth, pale surface in a pot. This was so Ariel had a perch and could use the tree to get to her nest box if she didn't want to fly inside. There was also a small bowl of water in her cage, which was also on Anna's bookshelf. Ariel fed herself on nightly hunts so Anna didn't usually have to feed her apart from the occasional treat.

As expected, Ariel landed briefly by her cage to get a drink before perching on the top branch of her tree.

Anna smiled at the beautiful bird before sitting on the edge of her bed and opening the letter the owl had delivered. She smiled, recognizing the handwriting of her two best friends, alternating back and forth throughout the letter, like they often did while talking.

' _Hey Anna,_

 _It's Fred_ _ **and George.**_ _You'll never guess what we just found out! You know the_ Daily Prophet _Galleon Draw? Dad won it! He won 700 Galleons!_ _ **He's decided we're going to spend it on a family trip to Egypt to visit Bill, since most of us stayed at Hogwarts while Mum and Dad got to visit him for Christmas last year. He thinks we'll stay there for about a month.**_ _Anyway, Charlie's coming with us and we were wondering if you wanted us to tell him about the whole Flint thing, you know, since you wanted him to be told face to face.'_

Anna closed her eyes briefly, her throat closing in pain. The year before, right after Gryffindor's Quidditch match against Slytherin, Marcus Flint and two other Slytherins had cornered her and attacked her in the Quidditch supply shed. While the other two held her down, Marcus Flint had raped her. He hadn't been able to do much, though, because George Weasley had blasted the door open when he couldn't get in. She'd kept it a secret for as long as she could until George and his twin, Fred, dragged it out of her.

Taking a deep breath, Anna turned back to her letter.

' _ **We understand if you want to tell him yourself, but we can tell him if it'd be easier. You already have to endure a trial in front of the whole Wizengamot. Let us know.**_ _Anyway, that's really all that's new since the last time we wrote to you. So, let us know how you're doing. And you better be eating!_ _ **If not, we'll hear about it.**_ _We're leaving about halfway through July, so we'll be gone before your trial, but you better let us knew how it goes. And we'll tell you all about Egypt._

 _Love, your favorite Weasley twins,_

 _Fred_ _ **and George**_ _'_

Anna smiled, flopping back on her bed and holding the letter up in the air to reread it a couple times. During her mild depression after being raped, she'd been very distant and hadn't eaten often. Since the twins found out they'd always made sure she ate a decent amount at meals, which contributed to gaining back the weight she'd lost. That, and them just being their usual, happy selves had contributed greatly to the improvement of Anna's condition.

Another thing the rape had caused was the change in her hair. Anna was born a Metamorphmagus, which was a rare ability to change her appearance at will. The only other Metamorphmagus she'd met was her cousin of sorts, Nymphadora Tonks, who preferred to be called Tonks.

A strong surge of emotions can cause a change in appearance, like when Anna got extremely mad at a couple Slytherins the year before, her hair had briefly flashed red. However, after Flint hurt her, her hair had changed to a dull blue-gray color. It had faded as time went on and her emotions improved, and now it was back to it's usual color. Brown with a layer of black underneath. She wasn't sure why she couldn't make the layer of black go away, it'd just always been there. Though she noticed it was a bit smaller and more faded now than it used to be. It was more of a really dark brown.

Stretching once more, Anna got up and placed the letter on her desk. She'd write out a response in a little while and give Ariel a chance to rest before heading off with a response. She headed downstairs with the intention of getting something to eat for breakfast.

XXX

Anna followed her mother out of the fireplace and into the Leaky Cauldron, dusting soot from her traveling cloak, having just Flooed from home to the dingy pub for lunch.

"Wren!" a middle-aged witch waved them over to a booth in the corner. She was tall and very beautiful with curly, light brown hair, pale skin, and wide eyes.

Anna's mother, Wren Black, beamed at the other witch.

"Andromeda!" They quickly approached the booth and Andromeda Tonks stood up to give Wren a tight hug. Sitting across from her was a twenty year old witch who currently had black hair with a couple purple streaks and bright green eyes.

"Hello Nymphadora." Anna greeted with a tiny smirk.

Nymphadora Tonks, her cousin of sorts who preferred to be called Tonks, wrinkled her nose up at her before standing up.

"Wotcher, Annabelle." she greeted back before pulling her into a tight hug. When she pulled away, Tonks ruffled Anna's hair playfully before sliding into the booth toward the wall so Anna could sit next to her. Opposite them, Wren slid in next to Andromeda.

"So, how have things been with you two? How's school going, Annabelle?" Andromeda asked curiously as they looked over the menus, "You're going into your fifth year, right? That's exciting."

Tonks snorted and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, if you mean being drowned in homework and revising for OWLs well into the morning. It's _loads_ of fun." she agreed sarcastically, winking at Anna, who sniggered behind her hand.

"Nymphadora." Andromeda scolded, making Tonks wrinkle her nose again at her name.

"School's been going great. And apart from all the homework, I am looking forward to my fifth year. Honestly, it can't be any worse than last year." Anna admitted.

"Oh, that's right. I heard about all those attacks. It was simply horrible, I'm sure. I was so relieved no one was killed."

"And wasn't the last attack the Weasley girl? Charlie's sister?" Tonks added.

"Um, yeah, Ginny. She was taken into the Chamber, but Harry Potter and Charlie's brother, Ron, saved her. But,…um, that wasn't exactly what I was talking about, I guess." Anna admitted.

"What else happened?" Andromeda asked just after they placed their orders and waited for their food.

Anna glanced over at her mother and sent her a pleading look. She didn't want to tell anyone anymore. She'd already had to tell the twins, Professor McGonagall, Professor Dumbledore, her mum, and a few of her girl friends. She hated it.

Wren nodded slightly before turning to Andromeda. "Well,…last year after a Quidditch match…Anna was attacked by a boy from the Slytherin Quidditch team."

Andromeda looked between Wren and Anna worriedly. "What do you mean 'attacked'? What did he do to her?"

Wren swallowed ever so slightly before whispering so only their table could hear, "He raped her."

Tonks took in a sharp breath, her head snapping around to stare at Anna. She had visibly paled and was staring at Anna with watery eyes. Anna couldn't meet her eyes, so she simply stared at her hands on the table.

"What?" Andromeda breathed in horror, her hand coming up to cover her lips.

"That's partially why I wanted to meet with you two for lunch today." Wren admitted, "Anna has a trial near the end of July, and I didn't want word getting out and have you hear about it through gossip or something."

Andromeda nodded in understanding, taking Wren's hand on top of the table and squeezing it supportively. Tonks reached her arm over Anna's shoulders and pulled her into her side, the two just leaning on each other.

After a few awkward minutes, they moved on to safer topics.

"So, Tonks, are you still training to be an Auror?" Anna asked as their food arrived.

Since graduating Hogwarts a couple years ago, Tonks had begun training as an Auror, a wizard trained in catching Dark Wizards.

"I've got another year of training, and then I'll officially be an Auror." Tonks beamed before taking a bite of her food.

"Even though I think she'd be better off doing something safer." Andromeda stated pointedly. Anna got the sense she'd said similar things in the past when Tonks rolled her eyes.

"So, _Anna_ ," Tonks turned to Anna a few minutes later after Wren and Andromeda talked about work stuff. "any boy problems to speak of?"

Anna's brows furrowed in confusion. "Um,…not really. Fred and George have just been their typical selves."

Tonks sighed, rolling her eyes at her. "Not with them. I suppose that answers my question." She turned in her seat and leaned forward so her face was inches from Anna's. "I meant _boyfriends_." she whispered before laughing, leaning back to talk at normal volume. "You know, cute boys. Are there any cute boys? Or boys you're into?"

Anna grimaced as she looked up thoughtfully. "Not really." she answered slowly. "I mean, there probably are some cute boys, but…I don't really pay attention to that. I don't really have time, anyway. Between Quidditch, homework, visiting Hagrid's, and hanging out with the twins I don't spend much time checking out boys."

Tonks looked at her like she was insane. "Seriously? So you've never met a guy that you think is cute?"

Anna shrugged uncertainly. "Well,…I don't know!" she whined. "Why is this such a big thing?"

"You're almost fifteen. There's such a thing as hormones. Eventually the other sex will start to look less stupid and more attractive."

"Nymphadora Tonks!" Andromeda hissed at her daughter, having overheard. "Leave the poor girl alone. If she doesn't want to date, that's her decision."

Tonks rolled her eyes again. "I'm not telling her to go out and snog the first bloke she sees. I'm just telling her to…browse the selection."

Wren hid her smile and Anna laughed silently while Andromeda gave her the stink eye.

They had plenty of fun conversations as they ate their lunch and stayed a good hour after all their food was gone. Finally, it was decided they needed to get going because Andromeda needed to start cooking dinner at home for her husband, Ted.

"Make sure you write to me about this stupid trial." Tonks told Anna as they hugged. "When is it again?"

"July 24th." Anna answered.

"Well, good luck. I'm sure you'll be fine." Tonks assured her. "You need to be sure to write to me tons over the school year. Hey, maybe you can tell me when the Hogsmeade weekends are and I can visit you for a bit."

Anna lit up. "Yeah, I might just do that."

"Have a good rest of the summer, Annabelle." Andromeda cut in, giving Anna a tight hug.

"Thanks, you too."

Giving one last wave, Anna and Wren stepped into the Leaky Cauldron's fireplace and were whisked away back to their home.

 **XXX**

 **Sorry the first chapter short and uneventful, but I didn't want to put the trial in the first chapter. Oh well. Review and let me know what you thought!**


	2. Trial

Annabelle wrote a response to the twins' letter the day after receiving it. She congratulated them on their trip, told them she'd appreciate it if they told Charlie about the rape, as long as they were gentle about it, and she promised them she was eating.

Charlie had been her first friend back in her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. No one else had really wanted to be her friend because of her last name. Black's are known in the wizarding world as being supporters of Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all-time. But Charlie looked past that and they became friends. Even after he graduated and moved to Romania to work at the dragon reserve, they continued to write and keep in touch.

The twins wrote back to Anna the night before they left for Egypt to inform her they told Charlie. Apparently, he didn't take the news well and Molly had to help calm him down by talking to him and sneaking a Calming Draught into his tea. Not only was he angry at the news, he was upset he wasn't told sooner and he wasn't there to stop it. Anna was mildly surprised because Charlie was always so composed and level-headed. He hardly ever got angry.

Instead of writing back to them right away, Anna decided to wait until after the trial so she could tell them how it went.

"Are you ready to go, Annabelle?" Wren called through the bathroom door 9:30 on the morning of July 24th.

"Almost." Anna called back, looking herself over. She was wearing a simple white dress shirt and a black skirt, at her mother's insistence. She had also made her hair straight instead of its usual slight-waviness. Leaning her hands on the sink, she looked into the eyes of her reflection.

"Okay." she whispered to herself. "Everything will be fine. If you win, Flint will go to Azkaban and get what he deserves. If you lose,…at least you tried." she whispered. After all, it would be a close case. Most of their evidence was, at most, disputable. Realistically, there was a chance she'd lose and Flint would get away with what he did.

Deciding she looked fine, Anna hesitantly opened the door to find her mother waiting in the hall. Wren Black was in a similar outfit, but was wearing a nice, beige traveling robe, her short, brown hair straight but with the front sections pinned back from her face.

"Ready?" Wren asked gently.

Taking a deep breath, Anna nodded. "As I'll ever be."

Wren smiled sadly, wrapping an arm around her daughter to lead her down the stairs. At the door, Anna slipped on her simple, black dress shoes and pulled her black traveling robe over her shoulders. Together, the two stepped out of the cottage, and Wren took Anna's hand to Apparate them. They appeared in a back alley of some part of Muggle London Annabelle didn't recognize.

Keeping a firm grip on her daughter's hand, Wren tugged Anna forward and they crossed a street to a Muggle phone booth. Entering the booth and closing the door behind them, Wren dialed a number on the phone and answered some questions from the operator. Anna grabbed the wall in surprise when the booth started descending into the ground.

When they stepped out of it again, Anna's mouth fell open as she looked around. They were in a very long hall with polished dark wood flooring. The ceiling peacock blue with golden symbols that kept moving. The walls on either side as they walked were covered in beautiful fireplaces, one side people were leaving, on the other side people were coming in. There weren't many people coming and going at the moment, probably because the working day had already started for most people.

Halfway down the hall, the loud echo of pouring water drew Anna's attention to a large, circular fountain with a group of huge, golden statues in the middle. The tallest statue was a dignified wizard with his wand pointing straight up, next to him was a beautiful-looking witch with her own wand, a centaur, a goblin, and a house-elf. Jets of water were pouring from the ends of the two wands, the point of the centaur's arrow, the tip of the goblin's hat, and both the house-elf's ears. The centaur, goblin, and house-elf were looking up at the witch and wizard with adoring expressions.

Anna, who had paused in her walk to examine the statue, found herself scrunching up her nose. It seemed very…arrogant to have the other three creatures staring up at the witch and wizard like that. From what she'd seen personally, goblins and centaurs at least didn't exactly like witches and wizards.

"Anna?"

Anna looked up to find her mother had come back to join her.

"We need to get going, sweetie. We need to meet Professor McGonagall quickly before the trial."

Anna nodded, swallowing thickly and following her mother quickly down the rest of the hall. They passed a security desk and café before coming across about a couple dozen access lifts. Stepping into one, they traveled up one floor to level 9. Anna merely followed her mum out of the lift and up a flight of stairs to the left.

"Okay, your trial is supposed to be in Courtroom 8." Wren mumbled as they made it to Level 10 and started moving down a corridor. As they were walking, Anna glanced to her right and paused.

Down another corridor stood a small group of witches and wizards. Most of them were wearing plum-colored robes embroidered with a silver letter 'W'. One wizard, however, did not.

All Anna could see of the one wizard was the back of him. She assumed it was a him, but he had pale blonde hair that fell down the person's back. However, as she stood watching for a moment, the person turned around and saw her.

Anna almost flinched at the sight of Lucius Malfoy. When he recognized her, he smirked cruelly before turning back to the other adults he was speaking to.

"Anna."

Hearing her name, Anna turned and hurried after her mother, who was now standing outside a door with Professor McGonagall, who was wearing nicer robes than usual, though still green.

"Good morning, Ms. Black. I trust you've been having a good summer?" McGonagall asked politely.

Anna shrugged, hugging her arms close to her middle. "I've had better."

McGonagall nodded in understanding, giving a tight-lipped smile before speaking, "Well, Ms. Black, as Mr. Flint is the one being accused, he will be the one spending a majority of the time in the centre of the room. Dumbledore and a few members of the Wizengamot will be asking most of the questions. Okay?"

Anna nodded. With that, the three witches entered through the door labeled 'Courtroom 8'.

The room was a decent-size, square room with benches rising in levels along most of the walls. The walls were glistening, black stone with torches lighting the room. There had to be room for at least 100 people, though they were the only people currently in the room. There were two doors leading into the room; the one they'd just entered, and one on the opposite side of the room. In the center of the room was a single chair.

Nervously following her mum and Head of House, Anna sat down in the front row of one side of the benches. It was nearly ten minutes before the doors opened again. Anna kept her eyes fixed straight ahead, too nervous to see who had entered the room even though she had an idea. When the person moved around the three witches Anna couldn't help glancing briefly to the side.

Marcus Flint was glaring cruelly at her as two adults, a witch and a wizard, lead him around the room to the opposite side to sit.

Flint was tall and muscular. He had large teeth that made him resemble a troll, cold, gray eyes, and short, black hair.

The man with him looked very similar, though maybe an inch taller with broad shoulders. His black hair looked greasy and he had very thick eyebrows that nearly met in the middle in a unibrow. The woman with them was much shorter with light brown hair in a pixie cut and was rather plump, though her face was scrunched up as if she'd run headlong into a brick wall. When her thin lips parted to speak, Anna noticed her teeth were rather yellow and crooked, which may explain where Marcus got his tooth problem.

If Anna had to guess, the man and woman almost had to be Marcus Flint's parents. Which would also explain why they were looking at her as if she were the very dirt beneath their feet.

They waited silently in the room for a good ten minutes, though it felt like hours, before the door on the opposite side of the room behind the benches opened. Dozens of witches and wizards entered the room wearing plum-colored robes embroidered with a silver 'W', exactly like the ones who'd been talking to Lucius Malfoy earlier. They filed in and sat in the benches at the front of the room. Finally, Professor Dumbledore entered last and sat in the very front, middle seat. One wizard came forward and directed Flint to the chair in the very middle of the room, and he sat tall with an air of arrogance that clearly said he believed he did nothing wrong.

After a few moments, Dumbledore pulled some parchment out of a file and began reading from it.

"Trial on the 24th of July of the alleged rape of Annabelle Esme Black by Marcus Joseph Flint. Interrogators: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Chief Warlock; Amelia Susan Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Court Scribe, Tiberius Alcott Burke.

"The Wizengamot notes that Annabelle Black has provided evidence against Mr. Flint. This evidence includes a sample of her blood acquired from the crime scene, her own memory of the event, as well as the written account of a witness. Several members of the Wizengamot, including myself, have examined all the evidence and verify the authenticity of the blood sample and memory. Do you, Marcus Flint, have anything to say in your defense?"

Flint barely glanced sideways, sneering at Anna before turning back to the large group of witches and wizards looking down at him.

"I do. For one, I was told memories aren't a reliable form of evidence because you can easily change your memories. Also, the blood found could've come from anything. There are several sharp edges in that shed, she could've easily cut herself in there."

"And were you with anyone who can verify your whereabouts at the time of the attack?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"I was with the rest of my Quidditch team." Flint answered easily.

"And what were you doing?"

"We changed out of our Quidditch robes and returned to our common room."

"Ms. Black has also identified two of your teammates who helped you hold her down in the attack. Lucian Bole and Miles Bletchley." Dumbledore pointed out. "Their trials are right after yours."

Flint glanced back at his parents, and his father stood up.

"And is there anyone to back up Ms. Black's claim?" he asked pointedly.

"Yes, a Mr. George Weasley walked in on them. His written statement has already been taken into account."

"The Weasleys are her best friends, and they all hate me." Marcus Flint pointed out from his seat, "They're always pranking me, and pretty much any other Slytherin. I wouldn't put it past them to try and get me in trouble for something like this. They're probably all in on it."

Wren's hand tightened on Anna's hand and she glanced up at her mother. Judging by the flashing in her green eyes, she was barely refraining from saying something she'd regret later.

Dumbledore's eyes moved to the older witch at Anna's side. "Minerva, you're Ms. Black and Mr. Weasley's Head of House, and Transfiguration Professor. Does that sound like something any of them would do?"

McGonagall turned and regarded Anna carefully for several moments before turning back to the Wizengamot to answer.

"They are all very loyal, not only to each other but to their classmates. They do have tendencies to pull pranks, but they own up to their mistakes when they make them. And they wouldn't lie to get someone else in trouble, especially about something as serious as this.

"I saw both Fred and George Weasley's expressions when Ms. Black told me what happened. She couldn't even tell me about it unless the two were there with her. They supported her and were at her side through all of this. So, no, I don't think they would lie about all this."

Dumbledore nodded simply before turning to the room as a whole. "Are there any other pieces of evidence that either side would like to present?" When no one spoke up Dumbledore nodded. "Very well."

"Those in favor of the conviction of Marcus Flint on the account of rape." said a witch with close-cropped gray hair and a monocle.

Annabelle held her breath as she watched hands go up. First Dumbledore's, then the witch who had spoken, and about twenty others. Anna's stomach tightened and her mother squeezed her hand. It looked like just under half of the people had voted in her favor.

"Those in favor of clearing the accused of all charges."

Very slowly, several hands started going up. Anna's eyes swept the room as hand after hand rose into the air. Several people looked very guilty as they did this, others refusing to meet her eyes, but she didn't think much of it as she realized almost thirty people had their hands in the air.

Dumbledore took a deep breath as his eyes swept the room, taking in all the hands in the air. Finally, he took another deep breath and lifted the gavel at his side. "Cleared of all charges." he announced as he banged the gavel on his desk.

Anna felt sick and didn't pay her mother any attention as she spoke to McGonagall from around her, both whispering furiously. Anna's eyes traveled around and they met Flint's. He was giving her his usual, cruel smirk, revealing his large, crooked teeth.

"Anna? Anna, darling, come on." Wren rested her hand on Anna's shoulder as she stood up. Slowly, Anna did the same and followed her mother and teacher from the room and into the corridor.

"I am sorry it ended like this, Ms. Black." McGonagall told her, looking genuinely upset.

Anna swallowed thickly and just nodded, unable to find words to say.

The door opened again and the Flint family walked out. Wren instinctively pulled her daughter closer to her and McGonagall stepped closer to the other two, as well.

Marcus didn't say anything, just smirked at Anna as he followed his mother down the corridor. Mr. Flint, on the other hand, stopped and looked down at the three witches.

"At least for once, justice has been served." he told them, giving Anna a cold look before following his wife and son.

"Don't listen to them, Annabelle." McGonagall told her, using her first name for a change as she rested her hand on Anna's shoulder. "Keep one thing in mind, Annabelle. Sometimes those who do the right thing face hardships, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't still fight for what's right."

Anna nodded slowly. "Okay."

"You don't have to stay for the other two trials. Since Mr. Flint was found…Well, the other two are likely to get the same outcome." McGonagall admitted. "Try to have a good rest of your summer, Ms. Black. I'm sure the Weasleys will be able to cheer you up."

Anna tried to force a smile, grateful for how kind her Head of House was being.

"Thank you for your help, Professor McGonagall."

McGonagall nodded once before leaving down the corridor.

"So, do you want to go to Diagon Alley before we go home? We can get some ice cream?" Wren offered, wrapping an arm around Anna's shoulders as they also started the walk down the corridor.

Anna shook her head. "No thanks, Mum. I'm not that hungry. I'd like to just go home, please."

XXX

Anna spent the rest of the day after the trial in her room apart from when her mother called her down for dinner. Wren frequently tried to get her to come out and do something, but she couldn't, and Anna knew she'd be relieved when her mum went back to work the next day.

Unfortunately, her mum still had time to have breakfast early in the morning before she left, and she was kind enough to make some for Anna, too. Even though Anna felt like she didn't want to eat, she forced herself to for two reasons. One, her mother put in the effort to make pancakes, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Two, she promised the twins that she would eat.

"Have you written to the Weasleys yet about the trial?" Wren asked gently as she set Anna's plate on the table in front of her.

Anna sighed, resting her cheek on her fist as she poked her eggs with her fork. "No. I don't know how to tell them I lost. They'll be upset, I just know it."

"Of course they'll be upset, they care about you. But the important thing to remember is that they won't be upset _at you_." Wren told her, pouring Anna a cup of tea before setting her own plate and teacup on the table. Anna was putting a couple scoops of sugar in her tea, just how she liked it, when Wren spoke again. "Also, I thought you may want to know…there's a couple stories in the _Daily Prophet_ this morning you may be interested in."

Anna hesitantly took the newspaper her mother handed her over the table, nervous at how unsettled her mother seemed.

She looked down at the front page and saw the headlines:

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE

Intrigued, Anna moved on to read the article, but the picture with the article caught her eye, bringing a smile to her face.

All nine Weasleys were standing in front of a large pyramid, waving furiously in the photo. They were all dressed in Egyptian-looking clothes and had matching red hair, even though the black-and-white photo hid that fact. Anna examined them each closely, not bothering to read the article since the twins already told her about the trip and promised to tell her all their exciting stories.

Kind and plump Molly Weasley was standing in the front with her arm around Ginny, her only daughter. Arthur was standing behind them, a huge, beaming smile and a fez hiding his balding, red hair. Charlie Weasley, the second oldest son, was standing behind his mother, his head and neck the only part of him visible. Though it was hard to tell with no color in the picture, Anna thought he looked a bit darker than usual. Probably tanned from all the sun in Romania.

Ron, the youngest boy, was standing in the middle next to Ginny with his pet rat, Scabbers, on his shoulder. Next to him was Percy, who was entering his seventh year, and Anna could just barely see a Head Boy badge glistening on his fez atop his head. That would explain his pompous expression. Next to Percy was Fred and George, both smiling widely in the photo in matching outfits The only Weasley Anna didn't recognize was standing in the back, his head visible between Ron and Percy. Since there was only one Weasley she'd never met, Anna guessed this was the oldest Weasley brother, Bill, whom the Weasleys were visiting in Egypt.

Finished looking over the picture, Anna smiled at her mum. "I'll have to keep a clipping of this article for them. I'm not sure if Egypt gets the _Daily Prophet_."

Wren nodded, though she still looked worried.

"There's also another article…you may want to look at." Wren admitted quietly, "It's on page three."

Confused and concerned, Anna carefully opened the paper and found the third page. She skimmed the headlines of the several small articles on that page before her eyes landed on one that made her stomach drop.

FLINT VS BLACK RAPE TRIAL

Anna was almost too terrified to read the article, but she couldn't stop herself.

 _On the morning of July 24_ _th_ _was the trial against Marcus Flint on the rape of Annabelle Black. After a short hearing the trial ended with only 23 members of the Wizengamot voting in favor of conviction, allowing Marcus Flint to go free. The question is, did Ms. Black fake the whole thing like he claimed in the trial? Would she stoop that low in a quest for vengeance to accuse someone of rape?_

Anna swallowed thickly, feeling sick to her stomach. She suddenly wasn't as happy as she'd been seeing the Weasleys in the paper.

"Anna? Darling, are you okay?" Wren asked gently, laying her hand over Anna's across the table. "I'm sorry. I should've warned you before you read it."

Anna shook her head, trying to compose herself. "No, I'm fine, Mum. I'm fine. I just…I'm fine." she muttered repeatedly.

"Okay." Wren whispered, hesitantly going back to her breakfast. Anna forced herself to eat about half her food before putting her dishes in the sink and going up to her room, taking the newspaper with her. Her mother left for work a few minutes later.

Anna scratched Ariel's cheek as she sat on her bed, her owl perched on her knee, while she stared down at the newspaper on her bedspread. After several minutes of silence, she decided she should probably write to Charlie and the twins to tell them about the trial before they found out through the newspaper.

That thought, however, gave Anna an idea. Because she really didn't want to write a letter telling them she'd lost the trial.

So, she got up, placing Ariel on her headboard to perch while she took the paper to her desk. She dipped her quill in her inkwell and wrote on the front page of the newspaper right next to the headline about their dad, _'Look on page 3'._

With that done, she rolled the paper up into a tube and tied it.

"Ariel." Anna called, holding her arm up. Ariel flew the few feet to land on Anna's forearm, leaning over to nuzzle her head against Anna's. "I want you to take this to Charlie Weasley. He's still in Egypt."

Ariel ruffled her feathers before grabbing the newspaper in one clawed foot and taking off out the open window.

With her owl gone, Anna flopped down on her bed, staring blankly up at he ceiling. She didn't know what to do or think. All she really knew was that the Weasleys would all be really upset when they heard about the trial. She appreciated it, obviously, because she knew they cared about her, but she could just imagine the twins freaking out. They'd probably want to seek revenge on Flint. And Mrs. Weasley would probably either crush her in a hug or cry all over her the next time she saw her. And if Charlie was upset just hearing about it, he would probably be furious that justice wasn't served, so to speak.

She just wished all of this would go away.

 **XXX**

 **Don't hate me!**

 **I swear, there is a method to my madness! I do have reasons for Flint getting away with it! (Though it may not be clear for a while) I posted this chapter a day early so that I can post chapter 3 on Friday, which is March 10, Lupin's birthday. So, you won't have to wait long for the next chapter.**

 **Also, thank you to those who pointed out my mistake of saying Anna was 13 in the very beginning of the story. I have fixed my mistake and changed it to 15.**


	3. Escape

The few days after the trial were rather uneventful, at least for Annabelle. Apart from a few letters from her mum's family, Anna spent most of her time either locked in her bedroom or sitting out in the garden behind their cottage. She wished multiple times that the twins and Charlie were around to pull her out of this funk. She just didn't have the motivation to do it herself, having an empty house to herself with nothing to do, since she'd already finished all her homework for the summer, and Ariel was away getting the paper to the Weasleys.

About four days after sending Ariel to Egypt, Anna was sitting out on the garden bench and blankly watching a bumblebee move from flower to flower. She was pulled from her silent musings by a loud screech. Looking up at the blue sky, Anna saw Ariel swoop over the roof and down toward Anna's spot on the garden bench. Anna's back straightened nervously as Ariel landed lightly on her shoulder. The beautiful Barn Owl nibbled Anna's ear affectionately, but Anna was more focused on the two letters she carried, one tied to each leg.

Taking a nervous breath, Anna stood up on shaky legs and headed inside. Ariel remained relaxed on her shoulder as she entered the kitchen, getting a bowl down from the cupboard. She filled it with water from the sink, got some owl treats from the box in the cupboard, and placed the bowl on the table, spreading the treats out next to it. Ariel hooted, waiting patiently for Anna to untie both letters before landing on the table and eagerly getting a drink.

Anna watched her owl for a moment before turning to the letters, both addressed to her. One of them was clearly Charlie's handwriting, and the other was George's, though that letter was probably written by both twins.

Anna moved into the living room and curled up in the corner of the couch, eyeing both letters apprehensively. She wasn't sure which letter to read first. The Weasleys were all very loyal,…passionate people. She couldn't even begin to guess what would be written in either letter.

Finally, she just closed her eyes and randomly moved her finger around before it landed on one of the letters. Upon opening her eyes, she found her finger on Charlie's letter. So, she unfolded it and began reading:

' _Anna,_

 _I'm sorry about the trial. I wish I could've been there for you. I know you're alone at home a lot with your mom at work, and I know that's probably not doing you any good. Just remember that you're not really alone. We're all behind you in this. Despite what the Wizengamot says, we all know the truth. You should've seen everyone's reactions when we saw that article. The twins were so angry they accidentally magically shattered a window, and Mum went on a tirade and nearly Flooed herself straight to the Ministry to take her anger out on them. Looking back on it, is was rather entertaining, but we were all extremely pissed off._

 _Anyway, I know the twins are also writing to you the same time I'm writing this, and they'll probably mention this anyway, but we're going to be staying at the Leaky Cauldron the last few days before you all go back to school. I'm not entirely sure how long I'll be staying, or if I'll be able to before going back to work, but I hope to stay at least for a few hours. We'll see. Anyway, we were hoping you and your mum could stay as well a day or two before September 1_ _st_ _._

 _Finally, thanks for the picture from the article about Dad. We're keeping the clipping, though Ron keeps showing it to anyone around who'll listen. Anyway, I'd better go now. I can hear Mum yelling at Fred and George. They slipped beetles in Bill's soup at dinner._

 _Love,_

 _Charlie'_

Anna smiled sadly, getting a brief chuckle out of the last sentence. She may not know Bill at all, but she felt a bit bad for him being yet another victim of the twins'. Setting the letter down on the couch cushion next to her, she unfolded the other letter to read.

' _Anna,_

 _We got your letter earlier this afternoon._ _ **Well, technically we got your newspaper, but you know what we mean.**_ _We're so sorry about the trial. We wish we were there with you, or could've been at the trial to back you up._ _ **Did they not like my report? Is that why we lost? I swear I did better on it than most of my school essays!**_

 _Anyway, we're going to be staying at the Leaky Cauldron for a few days or so before we go back to school, and Mum wants us to invite you and your mum to stay with us, and then we can all go to Kings Cross together._ _ **Please come! We really miss you, and we have so much to tell you! Just yesterday we almost trapped Percy in a pyramid, but Mum caught us. Oh, and Charlie might be staying at the Leaky Cauldron with us, at least for a couple hours. And he really wants to see you, too.**_ _He really misses you, too. So, please come?_

 _I think that's all for now. We'll keep you updated on all the shenanigans we're getting up to. Just a couple hours ago we slipped some beetles into Bill's soup, and he didn't notice until he was almost done eating._ _ **It was brilliant, if we do say so ourselves. Anyway, write back soon and tell us if you can meet us and stay at the Leaky Cauldron.**_ _And you better be eating! We know you're home alone a lot with your mum at work, but you have to remember to eat!_

 _Love,_

 _Fred_ _ **and George**_ _'_

Fred and George's letter not only made her feel a bit better, it gave her a mix of emotions. She felt bad when she realized she hadn't eaten that day apart from a bowl of cereal that morning before her mum left for work. They also managed to make her laugh a couple times, as they usually did. And she was also excited at the idea of staying at the Leaky Cauldron with the Weasleys, especially if Charlie would be there for a bit.

Her first instinct was to write back to Charlie and the twins to assure them she was fine, and tell them she wanted to stay with them at the end of the summer. Unfortunately, she knew it wasn't completely her decision. She'd need to ask her mother. So, she decided to wait for her mum to get home from work to ask about it before writing a response. In the mean time, she could do with a snack. So, she made herself a cup of tea and a peanut butter sandwich.

A little after five in the afternoon, Wren came home with takeout for dinner. Anna quickly helped her set the table for their simple meal.

"Hey, Mum?"

"Hm?" Wren asked as they sat down and began eating.

"Charlie and the twins wrote back earlier today. They said they planned on staying at the Leaky Cauldron for the last couple days before school starts back up and wanted to know if we'd like to join them?"

Wren smiled warmly. "Well, I don't see why not. I'll have to remember to ask for the last couple days of August off. That shouldn't be a problem."

Anna beamed, feeling more excited than she had the whole summer so far.

After dinner, Anna went to her room to write a response to Charlie and the twins.

' _Charlie,_

 _Thank you for the letter. I really needed that, and I appreciate you all believing me. I can also imagine everyone's reactions the way you described it. The twins didn't get in trouble for accidental magic, did they?_

 _Anyway, I asked my mom about the Leaky Cauldron as soon as she got home from work after getting your letters.(You were right, the twins also mentioned it in their letter.) She said we should be able to make it. She's even going to ask for the last couple days of August off so she can stay. I really hope you can make it, even for an hour! It's weird that I haven't seen you in person for about two years! Writing just isn't the same._

 _Hope to see you all soon! Say hello to everyone for me!_

 _Love,_

 _Anna'_

Feeling satisfied with that letter, Anna placed it off to the side of her desk to dry while she wrote a letter to the twins.

' _Fred and George,_

 _Don't worry, I'm eating. Yeah, the day or two after the trial was rough for me, but I promise I am eating three square meals a day and getting out in the garden behind my house. I'm also glad you guys got the newspaper clipping. Though, I noticed Percy had what looked like a Head Boy badge on his hat. If I'm right, I bet he's become unbearable, huh?_

 _Also, George, it wasn't your report's fault. Remember, they said it would be a tough case from the beginning since we didn't have a lot of solid evidence._

 _As I mentioned to Charlie in his letter, I asked my mum about the Leaky Cauldron, and she said we both should be able to meet you all there the last few days before school starts. I miss you guys tons and can't wait to see you all again. And yes, you better keep me updated on all your jokes and pranks. And seriously? Trapping Percy in a pyramid? It's a miracle your mother didn't tan your hides!(Though I wish I could've been there.)_

 _Glad you guys are having fun and have lots of stories to tell me. Try not to spend your whole vacation worried about me. I promise, I'm doing better._

 _Lots of love,_

 _Anna'_

Rereading both letters a few times, Anna deemed them both worthy to post. But seeing as Ariel already flew all the way from Egypt, which was over 2,000 miles away, she decided to wait until the next day to send her back out. The owl had just returned after a brief hunt in the evening sunset and was currently tucked away in her nest box. She didn't typically sleep during the night, as owl were nocturnal, but after a four day journey she was probably exhausted.

Leaving both letters on her desktop until morning, Anna quickly checked that Ariel's dish had water before getting ready for bed and falling asleep.

XXX

Anna woke up surprisingly early on the first day of August and headed downstairs for breakfast. She was still wearing her pajamas, just an old T-shirt and loose shorts since it was sort of hot in their small home. She rubbed some more sleep from her eye as she entered the kitchen, but she paused just in the doorway.

Her mother was sitting at the kitchen table in her typical kind of work outfit, her short, brown hair pulled up in a bun; and she had a mug of tea sitting on the table next to her as she read the _Daily Prophet_. But what was different, was her expression. Her normally-sun kissed skin was pale, almost ashen, her lips were parted and she just looked completely in shock, maybe horrified even.

"Mum?" Anna asked hesitantly.

Wren jumped and slammed the paper down onto the tabletop. "Oh! Anna. I didn't hear you get up." she mumbled quietly, taking a quick drink of her tea as she avoided looking at her daughter.

"What's wrong?" Anna asked anxiously, wringing her hands together.

Wren looked up at her daughter and searched her eyes for several moments before sighing. "Well, I may as well tell you. You'll find out eventually. Your father-"

But Wren was cut off by a sharp rap against the front door. Anna jumped, looking off to her left at the front door. Wren stood up, instinctively checking that her wand was tucked in the waistband of her skirt.

"Darling, wait upstairs unless I call you down." Wren ordered quietly, pushing Anna toward the stairs as she approached the front door. Anna went up the first couple steps, but stopped and stood there with her back against the wall. Her curiosity was getting the better of her and she wanted to know what was going on.

She heard the door creak open and a moment of silence.

"Good morning, Mrs. Black. I hope we're not intruding."

"Not at all, Minister. Is there something I can help you with?" her mother asked politely while Anna's eyes widened. The _Minister_?

"Well, we'd like to speak with you if that's possible. May we come in?"

"Of course." Anna assumed she waved them in, because the only sounds were the door clicking shut and a few different footsteps on the living room hardwood floor. And then silence.

"Now, Mrs. Black, we come with some…rather difficult news." the same man's voice as earlier spoke. From where it sounded, Anna guessed they were sitting on the couch in the living room.

"Really? And would that news happen to be on the front page of the _Daily Prophet_?" Wren asked, somewhat cynically.

There was a moment of silence and Anna could almost feel the awkwardness floating from the living room and around the corner to her hiding place.

"Ah, so, uh,…you've already heard, it seems." the man noted, sounding uncomfortable.

"I did. Didn't you think I may have wanted to hear about this in person instead of from the paper? That I may have wanted someone to come to my house and tell me that _my husband_ managed to escape from _Azkaban_ before it was printed for the entire world to see?!" Wren demanded, managing to keep her voice controlled even though she was clearly angry.

Anna's mouth fell open as her brain registered her mother's words. Escaped? Her dad escaped Azkaban? Wasn't that impossible?

"Now, Mrs. Black, you have to understand. Of course, telling you in person was at the top of our list, but there were other priorities above that as well. We needed to get the word out as fast as possible, of course. For the safety of citizens, both magical and muggle. I'm sorry we weren't able to get here before you saw the paper, but surely you understand."

"Of course." Wren agreed dryly, clearly still angry. "And am I to assume that is all you're here for?" she asked sarcastically.

"Um, well,…of course since you are Sirius Black's closest family it would make sense for him to come here after his escape. You understand, surely, we need to search the premises to ensure he isn't hiding somewhere."

Wren was silent for a moment before saying, "Very well. My daughter's in her room, the stairs are just around that corner there."

Mildly panicked, Anna turned and hurried as silently as possible up the stairs, wary of the creaky spot on the seventh step. She hurried to her open bedroom door and scurried around the corner and closed the door, leaving a crack so she didn't have to worry about the sound of her door shutting.

She backed away and stood waiting in her room for a moment, her arms crossed nervously over her stomach as she listened to multiple feet make their way up the staircase. Finally, a shadow paused outside her door a second before it cracked open. She looked up and met her mother's face as she peaked inside.

Wren gave her a reassuring smile. "Darling, can you come out here, please? We have some visitors."

"Sure, Mum." Anna answered, approaching her mom and stepping into the hall next to her and getting her first look at the men who had arrived. One man was rather plump and short with gray hair. He was wearing a pinstriped cloak and holding a lime green bowler hat in his hands. The man next to him was very tall and broad-shouldered with a simple black cloak.

"This is my daughter, Annabelle." Wren announced, wrapping her arm around Anna's shoulders and holding her close to her side, "This is Minister Fudge." she continued to Anna, pretty much ignoring the other man.

"Lovely to meet you, dear." the Minister gave her a small smile, offering his hand for her to shake. With a nervous glance at her mother, Anna took his hand and shook it delicately before letting go and tucking her hand under her armpit to cross her arms over her chest. She just realized she was still in her pajamas and didn't have a bra on underneath her T-shirt. She managed to keep down a blush using her Metamorphic abilities.

"Now, if you'll just let this Auror search the house, we'll be done before long." Minister Fudge announced with an agreeable smile.

Wren nodded and held Anna close as they stepped aside, allowing the 'Auror' to start searching in Anna's room. While he searched, Fudge turned back to Wren and Anna.

"Now, while he's searching, there's something you should know. For the last few days Bl-I mean, Sirius Black has been muttering in his sleep. The same phrase, over and over. 'He's at Hogwarts'."

Worried, Anna glanced at her mother, who was keeping her face carefully blank.

"There are obviously few possibilities for who he could be referring to," Fudge continued carefully, "But all we really know for sure…is that he mentioned Hogwarts several times in the days before his escape. So, I am going to be sending dementors to Hogwarts to search for him and to protect both the staff and students."

Wren's lips parted in a mixture of shock and horror. "Dementors? In a _school_? Do you have any _idea_ how insane that sounds? How much danger you're putting all those kids in?"

"They'll be in no more danger with the dementors than they'd be if a crazed mass murderer got in without anything to protect them." Fudge counted tersely.

Anna flinched at the horrid name he'd given her father. Mass Murderer. Her father, Sirius Black, was put in Azkaban twelve years ago for murdering twelve muggles. But Anna's mother had told her that it wasn't true. That it couldn't have been him. Of course, most people would just say that she was defending her husband, but she had some fair arguments. And when Anna got to go visit her father in Azkaban, which was a horrible prison, she found it impossible to believe he'd kill all those people, as well as betray his best friends like he was also accused of.

Wren also had to bite her tongue at the name, preventing herself from furiously defending her husband. She'd already faced persecution in the past from people who knew she believed her husband was innocent, it wouldn't do any good if she went around now claiming he was innocent. No one would believe her, and it would only get herself in trouble.

The Auror quickly checked all the rooms in the upstairs and they all moved downstairs to check the rest of the house. When he came back up from checking out the basement he eyed Wren.

"Interesting basement you've got down there." he commented lightly.

Wren held her chin high. "I haven't been down there in a while."

"How long's a while?" the Auror asked suspiciously.

"Nearly a decade." Wren answered snippily. "Is that a problem?"

"Not at all. Just, um,…it's a bit of a mess." he commented lightly.

"What basement isn't?" Wren countered.

The Auror nodded slowly, though he still looked suspicious before he turned to the Minister. "There's no sign of Black, Minister."

Fudge nodded. "Very well. Then, I guess we'll get going. Of course, Mrs. Black," he added as they all headed toward the front door, "I'm sure I don't have to remind you to contact one of us immediately if Black contacts you. Harboring such a dangerous criminal is considered a very serious crime in itself, and we wouldn't want there to be a misunderstanding, would we?"

"Don't worry, Minister, if a mass murder ever shows up at my home I will contact the proper authorities." Wren answered seriously before opening the door for them. As soon as she shut the door behind them she turned and leaned back against the door, heaving a sigh.

"Mum, would you really tell them if dad shows up?" Anna asked worriedly.

Wren gave her a sad smile. "Anna, if Sirius was a murderer, I probably would. But I know he didn't do it. I'm not sure what happened that night, but I know he didn't kill anyone or betray James and Lily."

Anna nodded with a slight smile. So, her mother didn't technically lie to the Minister. Her dad wasn't a murderer, therefore she wouldn't turn him in. Clever. Then, Anna's smile fell slightly.

"How do you think he escaped?"

Wren thought about it for a moment. "I'm not sure. No one's ever managed to escape Azkaban before. People will probably try to say he used Dark Magic, but that's impossible. He doesn't know Dark Magic."

Anna nodded before her eyes landed on the clock on the wall. "You'd better get to work, Mum."

Wren followed her eyes to the clock. "Are you sure? I don't feel right leaving you alone. That was a bit of a bombshell." she admitted gently.

Anna gave her a small smile. "I'm sure people will find it suspicious if you don't go to work the day your husband escaped Azkaban."

Wren gave her a small smile. "I suppose you're right." Stepping forward, Wren gave Anna a tight hug and kissed her forehead. "I love you, Annabelle. Try and have a good day. Be careful, just in case."

With that, Wren left for work, leaving Anna home alone for the day once again.


	4. Reunion at the Leaky Cauldron

Annabelle stepped out of the Floo carefully after her mother. She stumbled under the weight of her trunk and Wren had to catch her to keep her from falling. When she straightened up, she looked around the Leaky Cauldron with a small smile.

They quickly found Tom and booked two rooms upstairs. Anna was more than grateful when her mum used her wand to float both their trunks up the stairs and put Anna's in her room for her. Then, the two made a trip to Diagon Alley to get Anna's school things for the year. The only thing that was considerably different from any years past was her new Care of Magical Creatures textbook. It was titled _The Monster Book of Monsters_ and they were kept in a cage in Flourish and Blotts. They had teeth and kept trying to bite people and even fought with each other. Anna somehow didn't think this was the kind of book Professor Kettleburn, the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, would use.

They finished their shopping rather quickly and Anna used some of the leftover money she had from their trip to Gringotts to buy a couple treats for Charlie, Fred, and George; as well as some ice cream for her mum and herself despite her mum's protests.

She was just placing her school supplies inside her trunk, which her mum had put an extension charm on, when she heard some rambunctious chatter and laughter downstairs. Of course, that's pretty common in the Leaky Cauldron, but she recognized a couple voices easily and a grin spread over her face. Jumping to her feet, she raced out of her room and hurried down the stairs. She slid around the corner and stopped at the familiar mass of red hair.

"Anna!" Fred and George beamed at the sight of her and they ran forward to tackle her in a group hug. She laughed easily, the first full-out laugh from her in a while, as she wrapped an arm around each of them as they scrambled to keep from falling over.

"Hey, quit hogging her!" a familiar, playful, deep voice called over their laughter, "You two got to see her back in June, I haven't seen her for two years!"

The twins released her, a bit reluctantly, and Anna turned to look up at Charlie. She quickly glanced him over before she moved to hug him. He was only a couple inches taller than her, but he was very stocky, and, while his arms had always been muscular from Quidditch, they had filled out more since she last saw him. Like all the Weasleys at the moment, his freckles were darker than usual and his skin was tan. His red hair was messy and grown to his chin, and he had a few scars up and down his arms.

He smiled at her and opened his arms so Anna could jump into a tight, familiar hug. She laughed when he squeezed her and lifted her a few inches off the ground. The last time she got a hug from Charlie was at his going away party two summers ago, and she was happy to see his hugs hadn't changed much.

"Now look who's hogging her." George remarked sarcastically. Anna looked over Charlie's shoulder, still being held up in the air, and saw that most of the Weasley family were watching them with smiles. Hearing his brother's remark, Charlie plopped her back on the ground and grinned at her.

"Oh, sweetie, it's so good to see you." Mrs. Weasley bustled forward and wrapped Anna in a hug that was somehow tighter than Charlie's. When she pulled away, she held Anna's cheeks between her hands. "How are you doing, sweetie? How have you been?"

Anna looked down awkwardly, wishing Mrs. Weasley wasn't talking to her like a baby. "I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley." she said quietly.

She didn't look like she believed her, but stepped back and let Ginny give Anna a hug and greeting.

"Hey, Ginny. How've you been?" Anna asked with a small smile.

"I'm great." Ginny smiled. "We had a lot of fun in Egypt and I'm glad I got to hang out with Bill. I haven't seen him in a while."

Anna talked with a few of the Weasleys for a while, during which time her mum came down and spoke with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. After a while, it was decided the Weasley kids needed their school supplies, but Charlie and the twins wanted to stay and talk with Anna. So, Molly and Wren took Percy, Ron, and Ginny into Diagon Alley to buy the school supplies while Anna went up to her room with Charlie and the twins to hang out.

Anna hopped onto the four-poster bed in her room and scooted up to lean back against the headboard, pulling a pillow onto her lap. Fred and George hopped up onto the bed and sat across from her while Charlie pulled a chair from the corner to sit next to the bed.

"So,…how was your summer, overall?" Charlie finally asked, ending the silence.

Anna shrugged. "Well,…I suppose it wasn't all terrible. I got to write to you guys…Oh! I built Ariel a nest box and a whole setup with a small, potted tree in my room for her to climb. I'll have to have you guys over some time to see it, or I'll just take pictures. One or the other."

"Wow. That is one spoiled owl." George joked with a smirk. Ariel, who had flown to the Leaky Cauldron on her own, swooped over from her perch on Anna's luggage and landed on George's knee to give his arm a sharp nip.

"Ow!" he shouted, jerking his arm away and rubbing the red spot with his other hand. Ariel gave him a shrewd look before going back to her cage. "Bloody bird." George grumbled under his breath, still rubbing his arm while his brothers muffled their laughter behind their hands.

"So,…obviously we don't have many details on the trial, since the article was pretty brief. What happened? What kind of defense could Flint have _possibly_ had?" Charlie asked seriously.

Anna took a deep breath, forcing herself to look back on the trial, something she hadn't allowed herself to do since that day.

"Well, he argued that memories aren't a reliable form of evidence because you can modify your memories, which Dumbledore already told us a while back. Then, he pointed out my blood in the shed could've come from anything, like I could've cut myself. You have to admit, most of our evidence was debatable."

"But I read somewhere there are signs if you modify your memory." Charlie argued. "The Wizengamot would've been able to tell."

Anna nodded. "Yeah, I don't know. But then his father asked if there was anyone who could back up my claim on all of this,-"

"Me." George stated as if it were obvious.

Anna smiled slightly, "Yeah, Dumbledore mentioned you gave a written statement, which the Wizengamot had already read and taken into account. Then, Flint argued that you two were my best friends and that all three of us hate him, claiming we're probably just trying to get him in trouble. McGonagall vouched for us, of course."

"McGonagall?" Fred gaped.

"Vouched for _us_?" George added in the same tone with the same expression. Charlie sniggered at their reactions.

Anna nodded with a smile.

"I still don't get it." Charlie continued after a moment, his smile falling from his face, "It sounds like everything should have been in your favor, even if it was all somewhat disputable. Why did the Wizengamot still find him innocent?"

Anna chewed her lip, picking at a loose thread on the pillow in her lap as she thought back on everything. Suddenly, a few things were popping into her head that she hadn't allowed herself to contemplate before. "Well,…I didn't think much of this before, but a lot of the people who voted him innocent looked guilty or wouldn't look me in the eye. And…"

"What?" all three boys asked, leaning forward when she trailed off.

Anna swallowed and looked at all of them. "I just…right before the trial, I saw Lucius Malfoy talking to some of the Wizengamot. When he saw me he just…gave this evil-looking smirk. I just…"

"You don't think…" Charlie trailed off. Anna's gray eyes met his blue ones and she saw the same thought there.

"You think Malfoy might've…bribed them or something?" George asked uncertainly.

Anna shrugged, hugging the pillow tightly to her chest. "I don't know, but it's not too farfetched if you think about it! Remember last year when all the school governors voted Dumbledore leave the school? Hagrid told me that the governors were under the assumption that Lucius Malfoy would curse their families if they didn't do it. Obviously, he threatened them then, what's to stop him from doing something to the Wizengamot?"

Charlie chewed the inside of his bottom lip thoughtfully. "Well, for starters the Wizengamot is a bit more serious than some old school governors. They're all the highest ranking witches and wizards around. Not that I'm saying it's impossible. If he goes about it the right way he could probably convince them to do what he wants. After all, you said the evidence wasn't perfect. All Malfoy needed was just a little bit of doubt in your story and he could convince them that finding Flint guilty was wrong."

Anna nodded slowly.

"But he _is_ guilty!" Fred shouted, smacking his hand down on his knee angrily. "He raped our best friend! It's not fair that she had to go through all the embarrassment of facing them and admitting all this and he still gets away with it."

"We know he's guilty, Fred." Charlie assured Fred calmly while George rested a hand on his twin's shoulder. "I'm not excusing the people who voted him innocent, I'm just suggesting some of the possibilities."

"But why would Malfoy bother getting involved?" George asked quietly. "What's he gain in all this?"

"Who knows? Maybe it's because Flint was a Slytherin? Maybe it's because I'm a Black? I don't try and understand the twisted-ness that is a Malfoy's brain." Anna ended in a small joke, making the twins smile.

"So, what'd the git's face look like when they found him innocent?" Fred asked with a grimace. "I bet he was all smug, huh?"

"Oh, yeah." Anna breathed, remembering the twisted smirk. "He was very smug." she admitted, hugging the pillow to her chest again.

"Hey, at least you'll never have to see him again." George assured her, resting a hand on her arm, "He was a seventh year last year. He's not in Hogwarts anymore."

Anna smiled gratefully at him. "I know. I suppose that's the only good thing to come of all this, huh?" she joked lightly, feeling some true relief at the thought of never having to see Marcus Flint ever again.

There were a few moments of silence before Fred spoke.

"So, on a different note." Fred started, looking down at the comforter they were sitting on. "You heard about Sirius Black escaping Azkaban?" he asked in a strange tone as he looked up at Anna.

She swallowed and looked down at the pillow in her lap. She knew it wouldn't be long before people started making the connection. Sure, the Black family was very large and was wormed into nearly every significant wizarding family in Britain. But that shouldn't mean people would instantly guess Sirius was her father. Of course, it would come out eventually. If not accidentally, Professor Snape would probably make sure to tell his precious Slytherins. Snape, the Potions teacher, had hated Annabelle from the very beginning. All her mother would tell her was that he went to school with her parents, and hated her dad for some reason. If anyone would spill her relation to Sirius Black for vindictive reasons, it'd be Severus Snape.

After thinking for a moment, Anna decided it'd be better if her friends found out the truth from herself. She just had to be very careful about what she said, and how she said it.

"I know what you're getting at, Fred." Anna said quietly, looking up between the three gingers. "Obviously, I'm related to Sirius Black."

"Well, that's pretty obvious. I mean, technically we're probably related to him, too. Our grandmother's a Black. Pretty much anyone out of a pureblood family's going to have some Black blood in them." George pointed out.

Anna sighed heavily. "Yes, but…I'm _really_ related to him…" she looked up and saw them staring at her expectantly. They had their suspicions, but they wanted to hear her say it. "Sirius Black is my father." she finally stated, waiting for their reaction.

They stared at her for a few moments, the twins slowly nodding as they processed this information.

"I knew it."

Anna and the twins turned to look at Charlie, who'd been the one to break the silence.

"How?" Anna asked curiously.

Charlie shrugged. "Not sure. Just,…you never talked much about your father. Pretty much the only things you've said is that he was disowned and he's not around anymore."

"How'd your mum get mixed up with a murderer anyhow?" Fred asked curiously.

Anna looked down, unsure of what to say. She knew she couldn't flat out tell them she believed he was innocent. They'd think she'd gone barmy.

"It's not like he was always like that." she said quietly. "We've got pictures on the fireplace mantle of when I was a baby. He looked…so different. He was always smiling, and…He was just different." she finally finished, unsure of how to explain it.

Charlie, Fred, and George all nodded in understanding. "Maybe something happened during the war to make him snap." George suggested.

"Or maybe he was a double agent for You-Know-Who." Fred suggested excitedly.

Anna flinched and Charlie noticed.

"Anyway, guys, didn't Dad mention something about Harry Potter already being here?" he asked, completely and subtly changing the subject.

"Yeah, Ron's gonna look for him after getting his school stuff." Fred answered.

"Wait, why's Harry here already? How long has he been here?" Anna asked in confusion.

"Oh, apparently a few weeks back he blew up his Aunt and ran away." George answered casually.

Anna's jaw dropped.

"Blew up?! He _blew up_ his aunt? As in, she exploded?!"

The twins burst out laughing, hunching over their laps as they held their guts. Charlie just shook his head with a grin.

"No, not that kind of 'blew up'. They meant he blew up his aunt as in she inflated and floated away." Charlie told her with a grin.

Anna snorted, lifting the pillow to cover her mouth. Then, she too burst out laughing. "That's brilliant!" she laughed, lowering her pillow. "Wait, how did you guys find out about it?" she asked after a few moments, still chuckling.

"Well, the Minister told Dad and we heard it from him. Apparently, Harry got angry and had that incident with accidental magic, then he ran away, got on the Knight Bus, came here, and that's where the Minister found him."

"Is he in trouble?" Anna asked worriedly.

"Don't think so." Charlie shook his head. "From what I heard, the Minister's letting him off."

"Huh." Anna mumbled.

They talked for a few more minutes before Charlie looked at the small alarm clock on the bedside table and decided he needed to Floo back home and get a few hours of sleep before he got back to work at the reserve. So, they walked downstairs and said goodbye to him. Charlie had already said goodbye to his mother and siblings earlier, not knowing when they'd be back from their school shopping. So, he hugged his father goodbye before turning to Anna.

"Look, I know this year's going to be tough for you, but if anyone can get through it, it's you." he told her seriously. "And these goofballs still have your back." he added jokingly, nodding at the twins.

"Oi!" they exclaimed in disagreement.

"Seriously, guys, try and have a good year. Win Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup for a change." Charlie suggested good-naturedly.

"We try!" all three of them exclaimed before looking among themselves and laughing. Sure, the twins often spoke in unison, but it wasn't nearly as frequent for Anna to join them, especially on accident.

Charlie shook his head in amusement. "Well, keep me in the loop and I'll see you guys soon." With one last wave, he disappeared into the Floo with a flash of green flames.

Anna followed the twins and sat at a table in the far corner, getting a few cold mugs of butterbeer to drink while they waited for the others to come back. Soon after, Harry, Ron, and Hermione arrived and went to talk to Mr. Weasley. A few moments later, Molly, Wren, Percy, and Ginny arrived. Chugging the rest of their butterbeers, Fred and George hopped to their feet and headed across the inn with Anna on their heels.

Ginny had her head ducked as she greeted Harry in a quiet voice. Anna suppressed a smile at the young girl's obvious crush, moving to wrap an arm around Ginny. When Ginny turned to look up at the older girl, Anna raised her eyebrows teasingly and tilted her head toward Harry. The redhead instantly blushed and turned her eyes to her feet, nudging Anna's ribs with her elbow.

"Harry. How nice to see you." Percy greeted Harry, shaking his hand with his nose in the air.

Harry was clearly trying to hold in his laughter. "Hello Percy."

"I hope you're well?"

"Very well, thanks-"

"Harry!" Fred elbowed Percy aside and bowed deeply. "Simply _splendid_ to see you, old boy-"

"Marvelous." George cut in, pushing Fred aside and seizing Harry's hand. "Absolutely spiffing."

Percy scowled at the twins, fixing his glasses and smoothing his hair down.

"That's enough, now." Molly cut in, struggling with the several shopping bags on her arms. Wren tried to take a few, but Molly waved her off.

"Mum!" Fred turned around and stared at his mother as if he was just seeing her. He turned and shook her hand. "How really corking to see you-"

"I said, that's enough." Molly repeated sternly, placing her shopping in an empty chair nearby. "Hello, Harry, dear. I suppose you've heard our exciting news?" she pointed to the silver badge on Percy's chest, which he was showing off by puffing out his chest. "Second Head Boy in the family!" she beamed, absolutely swelling with pride.

"And last." Fred muttered, moving to stand next to Anna, who still had her arm over Ginny's shoulder.

"I don't doubt that." Molly frowned at him, having heard him clearly. "I notice they haven't made you two prefects."

"She wasn't either!" Fred argued, pointing at Anna at his side.

"And what do we want to be prefects for, anyway?" George asked, looking revolted. "It'd take all the fun out of life."

Anna bit her lips to keep in her laughter, while Ginny giggled under her breath.

"You want to set a better example for your sister!" Molly snapped.

"Ginny's got other brothers to set her an example, Mother." Percy assured his mom loftily. "I'm going up to change for dinner."

George heaved a sigh as his brother left. He turned to Harry standing nearby.

"We tried to shut him in a pyramid, but mum spotted us."

Anna laughed, shaking her head before turning to the small group of third years. "Hi Harry. Hey Hermione."

They both smiled and greeted her in return.

"You remember my mum?" Anna added, waving her hand toward her mother. Wren steeled herself and gave Harry and Hermione a smile.

"It's nice to see you both again." Wren smiled kindly, trying not to let her gaze linger too long on Harry, who looked exactly like his parents. Seeing him again was like opening a festering wound. Anna gave her mum's hand a squeeze before everyone split up to do their own things, which mostly involved going to their rooms to hang out and put away their school things or finish packing for school the next day.

They all ate dinner together at the Leaky Cauldron that night. Tom, the innkeeper, had pushed three tables together so they could all sit together. Anna sat between the twins. They spent a good portion of dinner talking to Harry about Quidditch and how obsessive Oliver Wood, their Captain, was going to be this year. Anna was also trying to defend her plate from the twins steeling her food. When they finished dinner they were given an extravagant chocolate pudding.

"How're we getting to Kings Cross tomorrow, dad?" Fred asked as they dug in, getting pudding on the corner of his mouth.

"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars." Arthur answered simply.

Everyone stopped eating and looked at him except Wren and Molly, who weren't surprised.

"Why?" Percy asked curiously. It seemed even Pompous Percy couldn't contain his curiosity.

"It's because of you, Perce." George answered seriously. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them-"

"-for Humongous Bighead." Fred finished.

Everyone but Percy and Molly snorted into their pudding. Even Wren had to cover her mouth to hide her smile.

"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy repeated in a more dignified tone.

"Well, as we haven't got one anymore, and as I work there, they're doing me a favor." Arthur answered, his voice once again casual but Anna noticed his ears turned red. She quickly concluded he was either embarrassed or lying, and since it wouldn't make sense for him to be embarrassed, he must be lying about something. Interesting.

"Good thing, too." Molly added briskly, "Do you realize how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground…You are all packed aren't you?"

"Ron hasn't put all his things in his trunk yet." Percy announced in a long-suffering voice, "He's dumped them on my bed."

"You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time in the morning." Molly called down the table. Anna had to hide her smile with another bite of pudding as Ron scowled at Percy.

Suddenly, Fred's eyes lit up. "I just got a brilliant idea." he whispered so only Anna and George could really hear. Anna looked up at him and saw him giving George a look over her head. George's eyes lit up and a matching, mischievous grin split his face and he nodded in agreement.

"Hey, no fair!" Anna whispered, "Quit with the twin telepathy, I don't have a translator!"

The twins chuckled under their breath. "We're just thinking of making another change to someone's badge." Fred whispered in her ear as explanation.

Anna glanced surreptitiously down the table at Percy, who was still wearing his Head Boy badge. A smirk spread over her lips before she casually went back to eating her dessert.

When they'd all finished, most of them disappeared into their rooms feeling full and sleepy. Anna followed Fred into the twins' room while George said he was going to go snatch Percy's Head Boy badge from his room. Fred winked at Anna as he headed toward his trunk. Opening it, he fished around before pulling out a quill and bottle of ink. Anna started smirking when she recognized it as part of a Christmas present she'd given the twins the year before; a kit full of different quills perfect for pranking.

Taking the quill and inkwell, Fred lead Anna back out of the room, which was right next door to Ron and Percy's. George snuck out of their room just as they walked by and flashed Percy's badge at them with a smirk. Fred and Anna returned the smirk as they tiptoed down the hall and down the stairs to the dark landing.

Using the quill and special ink, Fred wrote 'Bighead' over the word 'Head' on the badge, instantly making the old word become invisible under the new word.

"Bighead Boy." Anna read it quietly aloud, even though she probably didn't need to speak so quietly. Percy and Ron had just started arguing very loudly in their room about the whereabouts of Percy's badge. "Not bad."

The trio listened as Percy started destroying their room, yelling at Ron, who yelled right back. They laughed as silently as possible at some of the remarks they could hear. Hearing a creak in the stairs behind her, Anna looked over her shoulder from her crouched position to see Harry walking up the stairs holding a bottled labeled 'Rat Tonic'.

"We've got it." Fred whispered by way of explanation, holding up the badge for Harry to see. "We've been improving it."

Harry gave a quiet laugh before continuing past them up the stairs and toward Percy and Ron's room.

XXX

The next morning was a rather rushed affair, eating breakfast and dragging all their trunks down the stairs to the front door. Of course, the twins still managed to find time to congratulate Ron on annoying Percy. Apparently, he accidentally dribbled some tea on Percy's picture of Penelope Clearwater, his girlfriend, leaving her nose all blotchy.

When the two Ministry cars arrived, Arthur ushered Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Percy into one car while Molly, Wren, Anna, Fred, George, and Ginny got in the other one. Anna couldn't help noticing that from the time they left the Leaky Cauldron until they boarded the Hogwarts Express that Arthur marched Harry about like a body guard.

Unfortunately, the spotlight moved to Annabelle as soon as she set foot on the train. People stared and whispered as she passed; speculations already flying. People she didn't even know were exchanging theories on her connection to Sirius Black. The twins picked up on the change about the same time she did and quickly lead her into an empty compartment. Within about ten minutes, they were gradually joined by their friends.

Lee Jordan, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell sat with Anna and the twins in their compartment. Katie greeted Anna with a hug when she arrived, voicing her sympathies about the trial that she read about in the paper.

"So, how was Egypt? I saw your guys' picture in the paper." Lee asked the twins with a grin. The twins instantly started on a long, detailed explanation of everything they did on their trip, as well as all the trouble they got into, which made all their friends laugh. The duration of their explanation lasted long enough for the train to leave and a light rain to start.

Anna noticed that even though everyone seemed genuinely happy and were acting like their usual selves, they were also giving her occasional looks of caution and curiosity.

Finally, Angelina, being the blunt girl that she is, started a new conversation when the twins finished their story. "So, if you don't mind my asking, Anna, what's your relation to Sirius Black? There are stories all over the train."

Anna sighed, closing her eyes and dropping her head back against the seat. "He's my father. And before you ask, no, I didn't help him escape." That was one of the many topics she'd overhead on her way to the compartment.

"Well, that was fairly obvious. I doubt you'd have the ability to help him escape." Lee commented lightly, earning a small smile from Anna.

"Thank you, Lee."

"Don't worry, Anna. Everyone will lay off eventually. Once they get their gossip out of their system they'll move on to something else." Alicia assured her gently.

"Yeah, or they'll keep interrogating me." Anna commented bitterly.

"Hey, we can't pick our families. It's not your fault your father's a Death Eater. The best thing you can do is continue with your life and show everyone you're nothing like him." Katie told her.

Anna stayed quiet. She knew Katie meant well, and if her father _was_ a Death Eater, she'd appreciate the comment immensely. But the fact was, she knew her father was innocent, she just couldn't tell anyone that.

"Yeah, we can't pick our families." Fred agreed suddenly.

George finished the statement. "If we could, do you really think we'd be related to Percy or Ron?"

Everyone laughed loudly, both at the randomness and the hint of truth in the statement.

Over the first couple hours of the train ride, everyone told stories about what they did over the summer. It also started raining harder, drops beating against the window with flashes of lightning and loud rumbles of thunder. The clouds eventually caused it to grow so dark the lanterns along the corridors and above the luggage racks flickered on.

The twins wouldn't let Anna sit quietly in the corner and stare out into the rain. So, as they were playing their fifth round of Exploding Snap, the door to their compartment slid open and everyone looked up. Instantly, grimaces or glares fell over everyone's expression at the sight that greeted them. Draco Malfoy and his two goons, Crabbe and Goyle, stood in the doorway to their compartment.

"What do you gits want?" Fred asked rudely.

"Not that it's any of your concern, Weasel, but we're here to talk to Black." Malfoy told him with a cold smirk, his gray eyes flickering toward Anna.

"Since when do you talk to me?" Anna asked rudely, "We don't exactly run in the same social circle, Malfoy."

"Of course not." Malfoy agreed, looking disgusted at the mere thought, "I just wanted to ask if you've gotten back in touch with 'Daddy dearest'." he sneered.

Anna froze temporarily before deciding to play dumb. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, please. Playing dumb won't help you. My mother told me all about your family. You're the daughter of Sirius Black."

"And how would your mother know something like that?" Anna asked doubtfully, her arms crossed over her chest.

"She's a Black." he answered as if it were obvious, "My mother, Narcissa, was a Black before she married. Actually, she said Sirius Black was her cousin."

"'Was'?" Alicia asked before she could stop herself. Though, everyone in the compartment was curious about this conversation.

"Of course. Black got himself disowned years ago, before he was even arrested. Something about the filth he associated with-"

"He was disowned because he refused to dump my mother when his parents told him to, and he ran away to live with friends when he was sixteen, so he was considered a bloodtraitor." Anna interrupted curtly, trying to reign in her emotions.

"Well, I suppose you must be proud. You're traitorous, murdering father broke out of Azkaban. Maybe he'll try to find time to see you while he's on the run." Malfoy mocked her, earning laughter from his friends.

"If there was one thing my father's done that I can easily say I'm proud of," Anna stated loudly, "it's that he eventually got the guts to leave that godforsaken hell you call a family. From what I've heard, they're all insane. I'm glad he got himself disowned by them because I would actually be _ashamed_ to be associated with them."

Her friends 'ooh'ed and sniggered while Malfoy glared at her with eyes filled with hatred, but right as he opened his mouth to snap at her, the train started slowing down.

Anna's brow furrowed in confusion at the same moment George commented, "We can't be there already."

Malfoy looked back out the doorway into the corridor, and Anna could see people doing the same in other compartments. Lee stood up to look out the window next to the door while Fred stood up to look out the window outside to see if he could see the castle.

Suddenly, the train jerked to a stop, causing those who were standing to stumble. Fred actually fell on top of Anna, landing halfway on her lap and knocking the air out of her. Thumps filled the train as luggage fell from racks, one such trunk barely missed George's head before it hit the floor by his feet. Then, the lamps went out, plunging them in total darkness.

Several people screamed all down the train. Anna shivered as Fred shifted off her and sat back in his original spot next to her.

"What's going on?" Angelina asked quietly.

"The window." Katie whispered, causing Anna and probably the others to turn and look at the window. Frost was spreading over the surface, faster than was natural. Shifting closer to the window, Anna leaned and peaked outside, trying to see through the dark, hazy sheets of rain. When she looked toward the front of the train, she narrowed her eyes. She saw movement.

"Something's getting on the train." she whispered, her eyes widening.

"What?" Malfoy practically squeaked.

There was a scrabbling before the door slid shut. Anna's eyes adjusted to the dark enough to see that Malfoy and his friends had completely entered their compartment and shut the door behind them. A silence fell over them for several moments before there was movement in the corridor. An intense cold filled the train. It reached deep down under Anna's skin, to her chest and into her heart. It was such a familiar feeling that Anna knew instantly what it was.

Dementors.

Anna had seen a dementor once, over Christmas in her third year. She'd convinced her mother to take her to Azkaban to meet her father, and a dementor, an Azkaban guard, lead them to Sirius's cell.

If the feeling alone hadn't clued Anna in, she could hear the dementor's breathing, a long, slow, rattling sound as if it were sucking something straight out of the air.

A couple cloaked, shadowed figures that she knew were dementors floated past their compartment before another slowed to a stop right outside. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle stumbled back from the door and cowered into the corner, whimpering like babies. Anna ignored them, watching from her seat as a familiar, pale, scabbed hand reached out to the handle on the compartment door. It slid open and the figure floated into the compartment. George and Fred scooted away from the creature and closer to Anna's side of the compartment, sandwiching her against the window.

She didn't really notice that, however, as the dementor moved closer. Her body was trembling as the cold in her chest and heart got worse. Her vision faded as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. She felt like she was drowning in icy water, prickling her skin and muffling any noise there might've been. Then, as if approaching from far away, she heard voices getting gradually louder in her ears.

 _"You can scream all you want, Black. No one can hear you. No one's coming to save you."_

 _A ghost feeling of the familiar searing, tearing pain inside her. A girl's voice screaming in absolute agony._

"Anna! Anna, wake up!" a familiar voice finally urged her to try and blink her eyes open. It sounded scared, worried. And there were other voices as well. Finally, she managed to open her eyes, blinking a couple time to clear her blurry vision. She was greeted by the sight of her friends all looking down at her, Katie and the twins kneeling on the ground around her. All of them were pale and looked worried and scared. Anna, herself, was tucked into the corner on the ground, her back against her seat, which she must have slid off of. She was also coated in a cold sweat.

"What?" Anna looked around her. The lights were all back on, the train was shaking under her, moving again, Malfoy and his goons were nowhere to be seen, and the dementor was gone. "What happened?"

Before anyone could answer, the door to their compartment slid open. A middle-aged wizard in shabby robes with brown, gray-flecked hair looked in on them.

"Everyone alright in here?" he asked.

Anna would've said yes, but Fred was quick to throw her under the bus. "Our friend, here, we think she passed out for a bit." he said, pointing at Anna. She glared at him when he turned back to her.

"Ah. Nothing to be ashamed of." the wizard assured her, stepping into the compartment.

"What were those things that came on the train?" Alicia asked the man, who was pulling what looked like a chocolate bar from his robe pocket. She was sitting in her seat next to Angelina and holding her knees to her chest.

"Dementors." Anna answered quietly before the stranger could. He cast her a curious glance before agreeing.

"Yes, dementors. They're the guards of Azkaban and were searching the train for Sirius Black."

Anna stiffened while Fred and George turned to stare at her.

"Here you all go. Chocolate is the only way to fight the effects of a dementor." he told them, passing George a whole bar of chocolate. "We should be at Hogwarts in less than ten minutes." he told them as George began breaking the bar into pieces. He held a very large piece out to Anna, who tried to refuse.

"I don't need that big of a piece, George." she argued as the stranger moved to leave.

Both twins glared at her while Fred threatened, "Annabelle Esme Black, eat the bloody chocolate or I'll force it down your throat."

Anna barely caught sight of the stranger over Fred's shoulder. He'd paused and met her eyes, his tired face going very pale as if he saw a ghost, before he hurried on his way. Anna met Fred's eyes and sighed, seeing there was no chance of her winning. Taking the chocolate from George, she took a small bite and instantly sighed at the feeling of warmth spreading all the way from her chest to the tips of her fingers and toes. She saw color return to everyone else's cheeks as they, also, ate their chocolate.

"So, what exactly happened?" Anna asked quietly, managing to drag herself back into her seat. The twins and Katie returned to their own seats, Fred sitting much closer to Anna than he'd been before.

"Well, when that dementor came in here, I felt you go all rigid," Fred started, looking worried, maybe even a bit scared.

"Then you fell out of your seat and started twitching, like you were having a fit." George added with the same expression.

"Then, there was a blast of silvery light from down the corridor that scared all the dementors off the train." Lee added, looking back out the window into the corridor as if expecting it to happen again.

"Hmm." Anna nodded, nibbling on her chocolate.

"Who do you think that guy was?" Katie asked curiously.

"Not sure. I haven't seen many adults on the train before." Lee commented.

"Maybe he's a new Professor?" Alicia suggested, "We are getting a new Defense teacher this year."

"And thank Merlin for that." the twins chorused.

"If I had to put up with Lockhart for a Professor for another year, I would've gone mental." Fred added seriously.

"Well, good thing he went mental before you did." Anna joked lightly with a small, forced smile. The twins grinned and chuckled, Fred elbowing her lightly in the side.

They arrived at Hogwarts a few minutes later. The rain was still coming down in icy sheets, so everyone hurried as fast as possible along the platform and onto the rough, muddy track to the stagecoaches. Annabelle and her friends managed to get one of the first coaches and were among the first into the castle.

"Ms. Black!" a very stern, familiar voice almost had Anna cringing. Turning around and searching among the small group of heads already in the entrance hall, she found Professor McGonagall staring at her. Weaving through the crowd, Anna met her Head of House and looked up expectantly.

"Yes, Professor?"

"I received an owl from Professor Lupin that you were ill on the train." McGonagall stated.

Anna thought a moment before figuring 'Professor Lupin' must've been the man that gave them all chocolate. "Oh, no I'm fine Professor." she mumbled, a blush spreading over her cheeks.

"Are you sure about that?" McGonagall asked doubtfully, looking her over with a critical eye. "Dementors are nasty creatures, Ms. Black. Especially for those who've been through something traumatic."

"I'm fine, I promise. Professor, um, _Lupin_ gave me some chocolate. I was fine within moments."

She could've sworn McGonagall's eyes softened ever so slightly for a moment before her stern exterior was back. "If you're sure. I was going to have Madam Pomfrey meet in my office. Another student had the same reaction."

Anna blushed and instantly shook her head. "Oh, no I'm fine Professor. I promise. I'd like to go sit with my friends, if that's alright."

"Very well. But if anything comes up, don't hesitate to come to me or go to the hospital wing."

Anna nodded and quickly turned to rejoin her friends, vaguely hearing her Professor call out, "Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"

Anna sat down next to Fred at the Gryffindor table, waiting patiently for the Sorting Ceremony to start. A moment later, the seat next to her was taken and she turned to see Ginny. But her face was pale with a few tear tracks, and she was shaking horribly.

"Ginny? Are you alright?" Anna asked worriedly, wrapping an arm around the second year's shoulders. She vaguely felt Fred lean forward on the table, probably to see his little sister around her head.

Ginny gave a forced smile. "I'm fine. It was just…there was a dementor that came into our compartment. I'm fine."

Anna's eyes widened in horror. The dementor had dragged up her own memories of Flint raping her. She could only imagine what the dementor brought up for Ginny, who had been possessed by Tom Riddle, aka Voldemort, for a majority of the last year. Anna quickly tightened her hold around Ginny's shoulders and held her close.

"Do you need to see Pomfrey? We'll need to get some chocolate in you." Anna murmured quietly.

Ginny gave a small smile. "No, I'm alright. The new Professor already gave me some chocolate. And I think Harry's worse off than me. He sorta fell out of his seat, it looked like he was having a fit and kept asking who screamed. It was very frightening." she admitted quietly.

Anna stayed quiet. So, Harry must've been the other student McGonagall mentioned having the same reaction. It seemed a bit strange, like a coincidence or maybe more, that both her and Harry, who each have a connection to Sirius Black, were affected so much by the dementors.

They all sat quietly during the Sorting Ceremony, cheering whenever someone was sorted into their own house. She noticed right near the end of the ceremony that McGonagall had returned with Harry and Hermione. Just as they sat down with Ron, Dumbledore stepped up to give a speech.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts!" he began, "I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast…" He paused to clear his throat before continuing. "As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the dementors, who are here on Ministry of Magic business." he paused to let that sink in as several people started whispering, "They are stationed at every entrance on the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises, or even Invisibility Cloaks." he added blandly. Anna briefly wondered who he was referring to, because it sounded like that was added for someone in particular.

"It is not in the nature of a dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the dementors."

Fred and George groaned and rolled their eyes. Just down the table, Percy was puffing out his chest and staring around impressively.

"On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Darks Arts teacher."

This news was met with scattered, rather unenthusiastic applause. Really only the dozen Gryffindors that Lupin had helped on the train clapped heartily. Anna admitted that, while he was very nice to them all on the train, Professor Lupin looked a bit shabby next to other teachers, who were dressed in their best robes. A brief glance down the Head Table, and Anna did a double take. Professor Snape was looking down the table at Lupin with a look of absolute loathing.

Anna elbowed Fred lightly. "Check out Snape."

Both twins did just that and smirked. "Probably jealous he wasn't given the position." Fred said back.

"As to our second new appointment. Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs." Anna perked up at the mention of her favorite class. "However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Tumultuous applause erupted at this news, particularly at the Gryffindor table. Anna was half-tempted to stand on the table and cheer. Hagrid, who was currently red-faced and staring at his hands with a wide smile hidden in tangle of black beard, was one of her favorite people at Hogwarts.

"Well, I think that's everything of importance." Dumbledore announced when the applause eventually died down, "Let the feast begin!"

As if his words were a cue, a feast magically appeared on all the tables and everyone instantly began filling their plates.

"I can't believe Hagrid's teaching Care of Magical Creatures." Anna practically squealed, she was so excited. She was nearly bouncing in her seat.

"Gee, excited much?" George laughed, leaning forward to see her around his twin.

"Maybe a bit." she admitted shyly, "I'll have to write Charlie and tell him."

"So, anyone want to make bets on how long Professor Lupin will last?" Fred asked with a smirk.

Anna hummed uncertainly. "I don't know. He doesn't seem that bad, to me. He actually looks like he knows what he's doing, if what happened on the train was any indication."

Ginny nodded next to her. "Yeah, he was the one that scared all the dementors away. He shot some silvery light from his wand and they all left."

"That was him?" the twins chorused, eyes a bit wide. Ginny nodded.

"Well, then, here's hoping he sticks around." George commented, taking a sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Ah, Black, nice to see you again." a familiar voice spoke from behind Anna's back. She instantly stiffened at the familiar, mocking voice. 'No,' she thought to herself, 'That's impossible. He can't be at Hogwarts,'.

Fred had instantly stood up, his hand going to his wand inside his robes, George standing up behind him. Anna slowly turned to look over her shoulder.

There, in Slytherin school robes, twisted smirk revealing crooked teeth, cold gray eyes mocking her, was Marcus Flint.

"What in the _bloody hell_ do you think you're doing here?" Fred demanded, his voice almost a low growl as he got in Flint's face so Flint couldn't see Anna.

"I'm in school, same as you. I have as much right to be here as you do." Flint smirked at him. "Now, why don't you two weasels scurry off to your little hole in the ground while I talk to Annabelle?"

"Not gonna happen." George stepped up next to his twin, his own wand shooting red sparks on accident.

"Aw, how sweet. I didn't know she had matching body guards." Flint mocked, "Too bad you two weren't around that day to help her carry the crate to the Quidditch shed. It sure looked rather heav-"

Fred grabbed the front of Flint's robes, his fist drawing back and preparing to strike. Anna stood up and grabbed his arm at the same moment a familiar, drawling voice interrupted them.

" _What_ is going on here?"

Severus Snape was approaching from the direction of the Head Table, looking entirely too pleased. The only reason Anna was a bit relieved was because she could see McGonagall hurrying toward them as well.

The twins thankfully kept their mouths shut at the sight of the Slytherin Head of House, who would obviously side with Flint. Anything they said would only get them in more trouble. Fred released Flint's robes and dropped his fist, subtly pushing Anna behind him.

"I will handle this, Severus." McGonagall stated quietly as she reached them, trying to speak quietly because dozens of people were watching the exchange.

"So you can go easy on your precious Gryffindors, who were about to attack another student? I don't think so, Minerva." Snape argued.

McGonagall glared at Snape before turning her angry eyes on Flint. "You were told to maintain a safe distance from Ms. Black, Mr. Flint, when we agreed to letting you return to this school. If you're going to disregard the rules we set forward, I will suggest the Headmaster remove you from the grounds. Am I clear?"

Flint gave a small smirk. "Of course, Professor."

"I'll be taking ten points from Slytherin for this, and you will join me for detention tomorrow night at seven."

"And ten points will be taken from Gryffindor for assaulting another student." Snape added.

"I didn't lay a hand on him! Anna stopped me." Fred argued angrily.

"I don't know." Flint smirked, "You did wrinkle my robes." he pointed out, lifting the collar of his robes as proof.

"Enough." McGonagall snapped quietly. "You, go back to your own table. And if you ever come near Ms. Black again, I will do everything I can to have you thrown from this school. Now, go!"

Flint smirked at Anna from around Fred as he left, and Anna trembled at the familiar expression.

"Severus, you may return to your dinner." McGonagall informed him sternly. He glared at Anna and the twins before returning to his seat. Anna and the twins sat back down in an attempt to make everyone stop staring at them.

"Ms. Black," McGonagall leaned down to speak to Anna quietly. "I am sorry no one warned you. There have been several… _issues_ we've been working on the past few weeks and it slipped my mind. He failed his NEWTs last year and has to repeat his seventh year. I promise, if he causes anymore problems, you can come to me and I'll have it taken care of. And you two," she turned to the twins. She glanced around before whispering, "Ten points to Gryffindor for outstanding loyalty." The twins beamed and she quickly added, "Just don't start punishing Mr. Flint with physical violence, or Professor Snape won't be so forgiving."

"Yes Professor." the twins chorused innocently.

McGonagall nodded, rested her hand briefly on Anna's back, and then returned to her seat. Anna kept her eyes fixed on her food, wishing several other students would stop staring at her.

"Anna? You okay?" Fred asked quietly. All their friends, sitting across from them, were watching her worriedly.

Anna swallowed the lump in her throat before looking over at him. Fred and George were both watching her worriedly. "I thought I'd never have to see him again." she whispered.

George's eyes softened and Fred rested a hand on her back.

"None of us did. We all thought he'd graduated, I mean, who fails their seventh year?" Fred asked rhetorically.

Anna gave them a grateful smile before returning to her food, forcing herself to eat something even though she suddenly wasn't as hungry as she was before.

 **XXX**

 **Looks like Anna's in for an eventful year.**

 **For the record, Flint failing his NEWTs and repeating his 7** **th** **year was something that happened in the books, and I thought it would somewhat fit with what I have planned.**

 **Review and let me know what you all thought of this rather long chapter!**


	5. New Teachers

The next morning, Annabelle dressed in her school robes and grabbed her bag full of books and school supplies to head down for breakfast. She sat down next to Fred, who was sitting across from George. Fred handed Anna her schedule, which had apparently already been passed around. A few minutes later, they were joined by Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Harry and Ron sat on either side of George.

"New third year course schedules." George told them, passing them each a schedule. "What's up with you, Harry?" he asked curiously. Anna looked up to see Harry looked angry.

"Malfoy." Ron answered with a glare at the Slytherin table. George, Fred, and Anna all turned to follow Ron's glare in time to see Malfoy pretending to faint with terror.

"That little git." George commented in a surprisingly calm voice. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself." Fred agreed, giving a contemptuous glance at Malfoy. Anna didn't comment on how Malfoy was already in their compartment to begin with.

"I wasn't too happy myself." George continued, "They're horrible things, those dementors…"

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" Fred added.

"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" Harry asked in a low voice.

Fred glanced briefly at Anna while George ordered bracingly, "Forget it, Harry. Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking…They suck the happiness out of a place, dementors. Most prisoners go mad in there."

"Besides," Anna added after thinking about it for a while, "you weren't the only one to pass out, Harry."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all stared at Anna in surprise.

"You did, too?" Harry asked hopefully.

Anna nodded shyly. "Yeah, I did. So don't beat yourself up over it."

"But you're a girl." Ron pointed out, "That's a bit different."

"How so?" Anna asked challengingly, leaning her elbows on the table as she stared Ron down. Ron turned red and went back to his food, stuffing his mouth full so he didn't have to talk.

"Anyway," Fred continued, smirking in amusement, "we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match. Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?" he reminded Harry. Looking a bit more cheerful, Harry began eating while Ron and Hermione got into a disagreement about her schedule. Anna tried not to think about the first Quidditch match, since she'd have to face Flint on the pitch.

Anna was looking over her schedule when the giant doors to the Great Hall banged open. Looking up, she saw Hagrid walk in wearing a long, moleskin overcoat and swinging a dead polecat from one enormous hand. She instantly smiled and straightened up.

"All righ'?" he asked Harry, Ron, and Hermione, pausing on his way to the staff table. "Yer in my firs' ever lesson! Right after lunch! Bin up since five gettin' everythin' ready…Hope it's okay…Me, a teacher…honestly…" he said, grinning broadly. He turned to look at Anna across the table. "Oh, Anna! What classes have yeh got today?"

"Um," Anna looked down at her schedule again to check. "I start the day with Potions after breakfast," the twins groaned since that meant they did, too, "and I've got Astronomy tonight. Other than that, my day's pretty empty. Why?"

"Well, I was wonderin' if you'd wanna give me a han' fer my firs' lesson after lunch. I think yeh'll like what I've got planned fer today." he said temptingly.

Anna smiled excitedly. "Really? I can help? Alright, yeah. Right after lunch?" she checked, to which Hagrid nodded. "Brilliant! Yeah, I'll be there!"

"Great! Meet me at my hut righ' after lunch." he told her before continuing to the staff table.

Anna was beaming, bouncing excitedly in her seat. Finally, Fred chuckled and rested a hand on her shoulder to force her to sit still.

"Honestly, you're like a four year old." he teased her.

Anna playfully scowled at him. "Shut it." Turning teasingly to Harry, Ron, and Hermione, she added, "Looks like I'll be joining you three for Care of Magical Creatures."

Harry and Hermione were smiling, but Ron was stuffing his face still. "Great. I don't suppose you figured out how to open our textbook?" Harry asked hopefully.

Anna grimaced. "Um, no, sorry. It tried to take my hand off and I barely managed to tape it shut."

The other three nodded in understanding.

After breakfast, Anna and the twins followed the rest of their class to the dungeons for their Potions class.

"Why'd it have to be Potions first thing?" George whined as they took their seats. Anna sat next to Fred, George and Lee behind them, and Angelina and Alicia next to them. After the room filled up, Snape swept in with his robes billowing behind him.

"Before we start today's lesson, I unfortunately have to explain the importance of O.W.L exams, which are at the end of this year for all of you." he announced, coming to a stop at the front of the room and facing them.

"At the end of this year, you will all be taking two Ordinary Wizarding Level exams per class, a written test and a practical test. The grade you get on these exams determines what classes you are allowed to take the next couple years. All your Professors will be preparing you starting immediately this year. Of course, I doubt more than a few of you will make it past this year in Potions, as I only allow students who get an O to continue to NEWT level. With all that said and done, we will begin today's lesson by going over the Draught of Peace."

XXX

Anna was quick to eat her lunch, saying goodbye to her friends before hurrying out of the castle and onto the grounds toward Hagrid's hut. She could hear the third years leaving behind her, but they went at a much more relaxed pace.

Hagrid was just stepping out of his hut wearing his moleskin coat with Fang, his boarhound, at his side. When Fang saw Anna approaching, he barked loudly and bounded toward her, placing his humongous paws on her shoulders. Anna laughed and scratched his ears, barely managing to stay upright under his weight.

"'ello Anna! Glad yeh could make it." Hagrid boomed excitedly, "Why don't yeh put yer bag in meh hut for the class. You can get it after."

"Okay." Anna smiled, finally getting Fang to drop to his four feet so she could toss her bag into Hagrid's hut. When she shut the front door behind her, she saw several students approaching, both Gryffindor and Slytherin. Her mood was _almost_ dampened when she realized she'd have to put up with the Slytherins. Almost, but not quite.

"C'mon, now, get a move on!" Hagrid boomed as the students approached, "Got a real treat for yeh today! Great lesson comin' up! Everyone here? Right, follow me!" He ordered, leading the way from the hut with Anna walking at his side. They walked around the edge of the trees for about five minutes until they came to an empty paddock.

"Everyone gather 'round the fence here! That's it - make sure yeh can see - now, firs thing yeh'll want ter do is open yer books-"

"How?" a familiar cold, drawling voice cut Hagrid off. Anna almost cringed at the sight of Draco Malfoy and his goons.

"Eh?"

"How do we open our books?" Malfoy repeated. He took out his copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters_ , which was tightly bound with rope. Several other people's copies were similar.

"Hasn' - hasn' anyone been able ter open their books?" Hagrid asked, looking crestfallen. Everyone shook their heads in response. Anna ducked her head sheepishly when Hagrid glanced down at her. "Yeh've got ter _stroke_ 'em." he told them as if it were obvious, "Look-" He took Hermione's book and ripped off the Spello-tape she bound it with. As Anna expected, the book tried to bite Hagrid, but he ran one giant forefinger down the book's spine. The book shivered and fell open quietly. Anna's mouth fell open in shock.

"Oh, how silly we've all been!" Malfoy sneered, "We should've _stroked_ them! Why didn't we guess!"

"I-I thought they were funny." Hagrid said uncertainly to Hermione. Anna felt awful for him, and she seriously wanted to deck Malfoy.

"Oh, tremendously funny! Really witty, giving us books that try and rip our hands off!"

"Shut up, Malfoy." Harry told him quietly.

"Righ' then, so - so yeh've got yer books an' - an' - now yeh need the Magical Creatures. Yeah. So I'll go an' get 'em. Anna, coul' yeh come with me? Hang on…" Hagrid waved Anna along with him and strode into the Dark Forest. Anna glanced back at Harry, Ron, and Hermione before hurrying after him.

"So, what magical creature did you have planned?" Anna asked curiously as they walked through the woods.

"Someone who'll be pleased ta see yeh." Hagrid told her with a grin. Anna was going to question him further, because her interest was now piqued, but before she could she heard some familiar sounds. Wings flapping, bird-like screeches, claws scraping at the dirt. She looked up and saw several beautiful hippogriffs. A smile lit up her face when she found a familiar gray-feathered hippogriff.

"Buckbeak!" she called excitedly. The animal in question lifted his eagle-like head and instantly trotted over to her, bumping his beak affectionately against her shoulder. She happily wrapped her arms around his large neck, snuggling her face into his soft feathers.

When a thought occurred to her, Anna pulled away and turned to Hagrid. "Wait, you're starting your first class…with hippogriffs?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yep. Now, C'mon. We've gotta get 'em back to the class." he told her, clipping chains to the thick leather collars all the hippogriffs were wearing. He handed a few of the chains to Anna to hold while he lead most of the herd back toward the class.

When the class came back into sight, Anna saw that most of them were in shock at the sight of the animals they'd brought. The class drew back slightly when Hagrid tethered the ends of the chains to a fence post.

"Hippogriffs. Anna here's an expert on 'em. Beau'iful, aren' they?" Hagrid beamed. Most of the third years looked too scared to agree. Anna calmed her own nerves about the situation by petting the neck of a nearby hippogriff. "So," Hagrid rubbed his hands together eagerly, "if yeh wan' ter come a bit nearer-"

It didn't look like anyone wanted to, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione approached cautiously, probably to spare Hagrid's feelings.

"Now, firs' thing yeh gotta know about' hippogriffs is, they're proud. Easily offended, hippogriffs are. Don't never insult one, 'cause it might be the last thing yeh do. Yeh always wait fer the hippogriff ter make the firs' move. It's polite, see? Yeh walk toward him, and yeh bow, and yeh wait. If he bows back, yeh're allowed ter touch him. If he doesn' bow, then get away from him sharpish, 'cause those talons hurt. Right - who wants ter go first?"

Most of the class backed further away at the question. Anna would've laughed if she wasn't trying to calm the hippogriffs down. The animals were tossing their heads and flexing their wings, not liking being tethered.

"No one?" Hagrid urged with a pleading look.

"Hagrid, why don't I show them how it's done?" Anna suggested carefully, thinking if she did it the rest of the class would be more at ease.

"Well, they already know yeh. None of 'em need to accept yeh." Hagrid explained, and Anna had to admit he had a point.

"I'll do it." Harry announced. The rest of the class gasped and two girls whispered something at Harry, but he seemed to ignore them as he climbed the fence into the paddock.

"Good man, Harry! Right then - let's see how yeh get on with Buckbeak." Hagrid untied Buckbeak's chain and lead the gray hippogriff from the others. Anna bit her tongue on suggesting one of the gentler animals. She didn't want Hagrid feeling like she was undermining him. He was so excited about being a teacher, she didn't want to dampen that.

Hagrid slipped Buckbeak's leather collar from his neck, saying, "Easy now, Harry." Hagrid said quietly, "Yeh've got eye contact, now try not ter blink…hippogriffs don' trust yeh if yeh blink too much…"

Buckbeak turned his large head and stared at Harry with his fierce, orange eyes and Anna held her breath, her body tensing unintentionally.

"Tha's it. Tha's it, Harry…now, bow…" Hagrid told him quietly.

Harry looked very hesitant to do so, but he eventually gave a short bow and looked back up quickly. Buckbeak didn't move. In fact, to Anna, he looked overly haughty. She just hoped that was more for show.

"Ah." Hagrid said worriedly, "Right. Back away, now, Harry, easy does it-"

But Buckbeak suddenly bowed before Harry could do so, his head low toward the ground. Anna released a huge breath, her shoulders dropping in relief.

"Well done, Harry." Hagrid smiled, "Right, yeh can touch him! Pat his beak, go on!"

Harry slowly moved forward and patted the hippogriff's beak. Anna hid her grin behind her hand when Buckbeak lazily closed his eyes, obviously enjoying the attention. Most of the class broke into loud applause, though Anna noticed Malfoy and his friends didn't, which didn't surprise her.

"Righ' then, Harry. I reckon he migh' let yeh ride him!" Hagrid announced happily. Harry instantly looked unsure. "Yeh climb up there, jus behind the wing joint, an' mind yeh don't pull any of his feathers out, he won' like that…"

Harry put his foot on top of Buckbeak's wing and hoisted himself onto Buckbeak's back before the hippogriff stood up. "Go on, then!" Hagrid smacked Buckbeak's hindquarters. His wings stretched out, about twelve feet long, and with a flap he soared up into the air. Anna watched, leaning her shoulder casually against another hippogriff's flank with her head tilted back to watch Harry fly Buckbeak once around the paddock before coming to a landing.

Anna clapped while most of the class cheered.

"Good work, Harry!" Hagrid boomed over the cheers. "Okay, who else wants a go?"

The rest of the class was suddenly much more cooperative and cautiously climbed into the paddock. Anna helped Hagrid untie all the hippogriffs and small groups approached each animal. Anna moved among them, making sure everything was going smoothly and stopping occasionally to give people pointers.

She noticed Neville Longbottom, a plump and nervous boy, kept running away from his hippogriff, which didn't seem to want to bow back.

"Neville? You want some help?" Anna asked gently as she approached him. Neville glanced nervously at the hippogriff before looking back at Anna and nodding frantically.

Anna gave Neville a quick demonstration, which was quick because the hippogriff already knew her and considered the whole thing ridiculous. He just wanted Anna to pet him, goofy hippogriff.

"Alright. The reason he won't bow for you," Anna told Neville as she petted the animal's neck, "is because you're not maintaining eye contact. Trust me, I know it's unnerving at times, but they won't trust you if you can't look them in the eye. I used to be scared about eye contact, just ask the Weasley twins. They'll tell you all kinds of embarrassing stories about me." Neville cracked a small smile. "Just try again, okay? It's fine."

Neville took a deep breath and nodded before turning back to the hippogriff. Anna stepped back, watching the exchange closely. She only looked away when she noticed Malfoy was bowing to Buckbeak. She gave Neville a wide smile when his hippogriff finally bowed back and allowed Neville to hesitantly pet his beak.

Seeing that he had everything handled, Anna slowly moved away and began walking around the paddock. She smiled at Harry, Ron, and Hermione, who were with a chestnut hippogriff. As she continued her way around the paddock, she saw Malfoy patting Buckbeak's beak with a disdainful expression.

"This is very easy. I knew it must have been, if Potter could do it…I bet you're not dangerous at all, are you?" he asked Buckbeak. Anna instantly tensed and moved closer cautiously. "Are you, you great ugly brute?"

There was a flash of steely talons, and Malfoy's high-pitched scream. Anna bolted forward and shoved at Buckbeak's side to avoid his bucking talons. She managed to get his attention, though she wasn't nearly strong enough to actually push him. Hagrid hurried over and wrestled Buckbeak back into his collar while the angry hippogriff tried to get back at Malfoy, who lay curled up on the grass with blood staining his robes.

Once Buckbeak was back on his chain, Anna dragged him back across the paddock toward where all the other hippogriffs had congregated anxiously with all the chaos.

"I'm dying!" Malfoy was screaming, "I'm dying, look at me! It's killed me!"

Anna would've thought it was funny how Malfoy was overreacting if it wasn't for the blood, and the fact that it was Buckbeak that did it. She knew this would not end well if Malfoy's father got involved.

"Yer not dyin'!" Hagrid told him, his skin white under his beard. "Someone help me-gotta get him outta here-" Hagrid shouted at the rest of the class. Hermione ran to the gate, holding it open as Hagrid lifted Malfoy. Anna's stomach clenched when she caught sight of the long, deep-looking gash on Malfoy's arm. Blood spattered the grass as Hagrid ran up the slope.

Slowly, clearly in shock over what just happened, the rest of the class started to follow him.

Anna took a deep breath before deciding to take the hippogriffs back into the forest to graze. She only kept Buckbeak on his chain, the others followed her easily as she lead him back into the trees. When she found the clearing Hagrid found them in, she unclipped Buckbeak's chain, patting the side of his neck.

"Don't worry, Buckbeak. I'm sure everything will be fine." Anna told him quietly, even though she doubted he understood what she was talking about. She was still in shock over what just happened. She didn't quite know what to think yet.

XXX

The only class Anna had on Friday was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Anna sat next to Fred at the two-person desk they picked. Professor Lupin was already in the room when they all entered, setting a few books and papers out on his desk while he waited. When everyone was sitting and the time for class to start arrived, Professor Lupin began speaking.

"Good afternoon. We'll be starting class by doing a quick roll call, first. When I call your name, please just reply with a quick 'here'." he suggested, leaning over a sheet of parchment on his desk.

He called a few names before getting to Anna, "Annabelle Black."

"Here." Anna called, raising a hand.

Professor Lupin looked up and briefly found her before looking back down and moving on with the names. Anna noticed he would smile and maybe make a brief comment for most of the other students. When he reached the end of the Alphabet, he called the twins' names.

"Fred Weasley."

"Here."

"George Weasley."

"Here."

Lupin looked up each time and after George called 'here' he briefly looked back and forth between the two, straightening up at his desk.

"Now, curiously, do you two ever switch places?"

The twins smirked deviously and Anna hid her smile behind her hand while Lee nodded vigorously. Lupin glanced at Lee and fought a smile.

"And is there a way to tell the two of you apart at all?" he asked, though his tone suggested he doubted it.

"Not really," Fred started.

"Anna's really the only person who always can." George added, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at where Anna sat behind him. Anna blushed, ducking her head as half the class turned in their seats.

"Our own mom can't half the time." Fred added.

Some of the other students laughed, especially the other Gryffindors. Lupin chuckled as well, putting his quill away and moving to stand in front of his desk and lean back against it as he faced them.

"Alright, with that done, we're going to do a quick review to see where you're all at. It won't be an actual test. I'll be asking some questions verbally. As long as you participate you'll get a passing grade for the day. Just raise your hand if you want to answer a question. Sound good to everyone?"

Everyone nodded or mumbled their agreement, quite a few looking pleased that it wasn't a written exam.

"Alright, first question. What is a Bowtruckle?"

A couple hands shot up and a few more went up slowly. Anna's was one of the last few to go up as she remembered what the answer was. Lupin called on a girl Anna didn't know.

"It acts as a tree guardian for it's home tree." she answered easily.

"Yes, excellent." Lupin smiled before moving on. "What is the incantation for the Disarming Charm?"

Most of the hands in the class shot up, Anna's among them. Unfortunately, someone else was called on.

"Expelliarmus."

"What is one way to defeat a Kappa?"

"If you trick it into bowing, the water in the indent on it's head will spill out and weaken it."

"Where do Red Caps tend to live?"

"Wherever blood was shed, like dungeons or potholes in battlefields."

"What is the incantation for the Freezing Spell?"

"Glacius."

Anna's mouth fell open and she glared at the back of George's head after he answered. She'd raised her hand for nearly every question so far, and Lupin had made eye contact with her after nearly every question and yet, he hadn't called on her.

"Where do Grindylow live?"

"In weed beds in lakes."

"Good. Now, how does one defeat a Boggart?"

This question seemed to stump most of the class. Anna racked her brain, trying to remember, but all she could remember was briefly hearing that word in passing.

"No one?" Lupin asked, his eyebrows to his hairline in mild surprise. "No idea at all?"

Everyone looked among themselves, a few looking embarrassed or ashamed for not knowing.

"Well," Lupin clapped, standing up straight with a small smile, "then how about we make this a practical lesson?" Before anyone could answer, he headed toward the classroom's door, "All you'll need is your wand. Follow me, please."

Anna exchanged a look with the twins, all excited and Anna a tiny bit nervous. She couldn't remember the last time she'd had a practical lesson in Defense Against the Dark Arts.

All grabbing their wands, the class followed Professor Lupin down the corridor until they found the staffroom. He held the door open and waved them all through. It was a long, paneled room full of old, mismatched chairs. On the other end of the room sat a wardrobe.

"Now, I gave a lesson to the third years on Boggarts. It moved into this wardrobe recently and I asked the headmaster and teachers to leave it be so I could use it in the lesson. Now, does anyone know what a Boggart is?"

One person slowly raised her hand and Professor Lupin called on her.

"I think it's…a shape-shifter?" she answered uncertainly.

"Exactly, thank you. They tend to turn into whatever will frighten its opponent the most. No one knows what a Boggart looks like, because it transforms as soon as it's facing someone. Can anyone find a benefit to having more than one person facing the Boggart at once?"

Alicia raised her hand and Lupin called on her.

"It won't know what to turn into."

"Precisely. Now, the thing that finishes a Boggart is laughter. The charm to repel a Boggart is simple enough, but it's the mental aspect people struggle with. The incantation is as follows. _Riddikulus!_ Now, you all give it a try, without wands."

" _Riddikulus!_ " the class repeated easily.

"Very good. Now, unfortunately like I said, it's the mental aspect people struggle with. Do we have any volunteers?"

Everyone glanced around and a few whispers went around before Angelina raised her hand.

"Excellent. Angelina, correct?" Ang nodded as Lupin waved her up to the front of the group. "Now, I want you to think about what scares you the most." Angelina nodded, though they couldn't see her expression with her back to the class. "Now, I want you to think of something you can turn that fear into. Something that will make you laugh. When that Boggart is let out of the wardrobe, it will face you and turn into whatever scares you. You'll use the incantation on it. You have to focus as strongly as you can on something that will make you laugh. That's the trick to turn the Boggart into something funny. Then, when you laugh, it will weaken it. Got it? You know what you're going to do?" Angelina nodded to both questions, her wand firmly in her hand.

"Okay. Now," he turned to the rest of the class, "when Angelina is successful, the Boggart will likely turn its attention to someone else. I want you all to be ready and have something funny in mind. Everyone ready?"

Everyone took a few moments to think before saying they were ready.

"Good. Then we'll start." With a flick of his wand, Professor Lupin opened the wardrobe door.

Something stepped out. It was a witch or wizard dressed in a black, hooded cloak with a mask that had snake-like eyes. Anna instantly shivered, recognizing this figure as a Death Eater. She was instantly more nervous than before. She had a feeling what the Boggart would become when it faced her, and she stepped back a couple paces at the thought. Fred, who'd been standing next to her, noticed and looked back at her.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"I-I can't-" she shook her head.

Fred's eyes widened. "You think your Boggart will be…?" he trailed off.

Anna shrugged. "I'm not sure. And that's what scares me. I can't think of anything that scares me more, Fred."

Fred swallowed and glanced over his shoulder. Angelina had made the Death Eater's mask fall off and reveal a funny-looking clown face and another student was stepping forward. Turning back to Anna, he whispered, "Okay, don't think about what scares you. Focus on what will make you laugh."

"I don't know-"

"What can you always count on to make you laugh? Just as a broad subject?" Fred urged, trying to calm her panic.

Anna swallowed and thought for a moment before shrugging. "You and George." she answered, watching Lee turn the dead body of a little girl into a whoopee cushion.

Fred grinned. "Good. Now, what's something we've done or made that you know, no matter what, will make you laugh."

Anna thought for only a second before her lips started twitching. Seeing this, Fred's grin widened.

"Got it?"

"Got it." Anna confirmed with a nod. They turned back to the class to see George step up to the Boggart. They moved forward a couple steps as the Boggart changed.

Anna's stomach churned and she covered her mouth. She saw a familiar ginger fall to his knees in front of George, clutching his stomach. The rest of the class stepped back as the figure coughed up blood from his mouth, more of the crimson liquid pouring from his stomach.

Anna's eyes moved to Fred, and then George. Fred was tense and watching his twin worriedly. George had gone a bit pale, his wand hand shaking as he stared down at his Boggart:

Fred dying at his feet.

" _Riddikulus!_ " George shouted, his voice shaking. There was a crack like a whip in the air and George's Boggart changed into Percy with neon green hair in a frilly, pink dress. The class laughed loudly and Anna relaxed a bit before the Boggart turned to Fred and, with a crack, changed into a black-cloaked figure. The room filled with a tense eeriness as the figure slowly approached Fred, a long, pale wand peaking out of the robes. Everyone took yet another step back. It was clear who this figure was.

Voldemort.

Anna noticed Professor Lupin tense and take a step forward, but Fred confidently yelled, " _Riddikulus!_ " and with another crack, the figure changed into…Anna laughed even louder than the rest of the class. The figure was Marcus Flint, but it was hard to tell because he had a jack-o-lantern stuck on his head; clearly a memory from one of the many pranks the twins had played on him over the years.

Anna's laughter, however, was short lived as the Boggart turned on her with a loud crack.

Her blood ran cold as she looked up into the menacing, gray eyes of Marcus Flint. He was dressed in his Quidditch robes and smirking at her, his crooked teeth peaking out from behind his lips as he advanced on her. He looked just like he had that day he raped her.

Quickly focusing on the funny memory she'd thought of, Anna pointed her wand at him. " _R-Riddikulus._ " Nothing happened. In fact, he just stepped closer and Anna found herself stepping back. She could feel a tenseness in the air, the class expecting her to fail, and she could feel them all staring at her. But then she reminded herself; she was a Gyffindor. If she couldn't face a pretend Flint, what did that say about her? George faced seeing his twin dying, for Merlin's sake!

Focusing solely on her funny memory, Anna tightened her grip on her wand until her knuckles turned white and shouted more clearly, " _Riddikulus!_ "

There was a crack and suddenly, Professor Snape was standing before her drenched in a foul-smelling, green liquid. The class promptly burst into hysterical laughter, a couple people hooting and cheering.

The twins pulled Anna back a few steps, both wrapping an arm around her while another student stepped forward to face the Boggart.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Fred whispered ecstatically. "I can't believe I didn't think of that."

"Easily my favorite prank yet." George agreed with a beaming smile.

Eventually, Alicia finished the Boggart off and Lupin stepped forward to address the class.

"You all did wonderful for a first lesson. Full points to all of you." The class cheered and high-fived their friends. "Unfortunately, we didn't get through everything I wanted to today, but I think it was for the best. This was probably more beneficial to you than a quiz. We'll start on some more reviews next time. You're all dismissed, and I wish you all a good weekend."

Everyone left the staffroom whispering excitedly about the lesson. Even though Anna had handled her Boggart in the end, she was still a bit shaky from facing Flint, even if it was fake.

"You alright?" George checked, looking worriedly down at her.

"I feel like I should be asking you that," Anna stated pointedly, "but yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't worry. You won't be scared of that git forever." Fred told her firmly.

"I bet most of the class thought my Boggart was stupid." Anna mumbled.

"Anyone who paid attention to last year and read the _Prophet_ over the summer knows and understands. Even though he was found innocent doesn't mean he actually is, and anyone with half a brain would understand that." George argued.

"Thanks." Anna wrapped an arm around both their waists in a slight group hug as they walked.

XXX

Later that night, Anna searched the common room and the twins' dormitory and couldn't find them anywhere. Finally, she fished a familiar bit of worn parchment out of Fred's trunk.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." she whispered, tapping the surface with her wand. Familiar words spread out over the surface, reading:

 _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

 _Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

 _are proud to present_

 _THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

Anna found herself lingering once again on the names on the map, specifically Padfoot. For some reason, that name always tugged at the edges of her subconscious.

Shaking her head, Anna unfolded the map until she could see the whole school. After scanning the map for a couple minutes, she found Fred and George in an abandoned classroom.

"Mischief Managed." she whispered, tapping the map with her wand and stuffing it back inside Fred's trunk. She hurried down the stairs and out the portrait hole to find her best friends.

When she reached the old classroom she knocked quickly before peaking inside. Fred was sitting on top of one of the desks and facing George, who was sitting at another desk with his arms folded on the desk top.

"Hi." Anna whispered, closing the door behind her and walking towards them. "How's it going?"

"It's fine." George answered easily as Anna pulled a chair over to sit opposite him at the desk.

"What brings you here?" Fred asked curiously.

Anna shrugged. "Got bored. I was looking for someone to share this with." she answered, pulling a bar of Honeydukes chocolate from her robe pocket and placing it on the desk in front of her.

" _Ooh_ , well, you came to the right place." Fred joked, snatching the chocolate off the desk and ripping the wrapper off.

"Oi! _Share_ , Freddie." Anna scolded him quietly.

"Oh, alright." Fred rolled his eyes and broke the chocolate into three equal parts and passed a piece to George and Anna.

"I know what you're doing." George informed Anna pointedly before taking a bite of his piece.

"Sharing some of the chocolate from my secret stash?" Anna offered rhetorically.

"You have more?!" Fred whined.

George, however, didn't let his eyes waver from Anna's. "I'm fine, Anna. It was just a Boggart. Nothing to worry about. Fred's already assured me several times he's not going anywhere."

"Good. Just wanted to make sure you actually knew that and weren't letting it eat away at you. I know you'd probably rather talk to Fred about it, but I just wanted you to know…you could talk to me if you needed to. Either of you." she added to Fred.

"Aw, thanks Anna. You're so sweet." Fred teased, reaching over and pinching her cheek. George chuckled while Anna leaned away and swatted at Fred's hand.

"Yeah, yeah. Watch it before I regret it." she threatened jokingly.

XXX

The next few weeks were very uneventful. Anna found that Care of Magical Creatures turned very boring after the Buckbeak incident. She'd managed to talk to Hagrid a few times since that day, and while he wasn't being fired, he was very worried about what Malfoy's father would do, and he'd lost his confidence as a teacher. Because of this, their first few lessons were spent mostly taking a few notes and studying Fire Crabs. Pretty boring.

Defense Against the Dark Arts, on the other hand, was now most of Gryffindor's favorite class. Professor Lupin did mostly practical lessons and was super fun, making sure to call on nearly everyone and get them involved. He was easily becoming most of Hogwarts' favorite teacher.

Except Anna.

He always seemed to ignore her in class. If she raised her hand to answer a question, he completely looked her over and called on someone nearby. And while he joked around with the other students and made everyone laugh and just overall at ease, he rarely even spoke to Anna apart from taking roll call.

It was extremely frustrating.

Finally, October rolled around, and with it came Quidditch. So Oliver Wood, the seventh year Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, called a meeting on the first Thursday evening of October.

The air was chilly in the locker rooms and the Quidditch pitch was growing dark as the sun set on the horizon.

"This is our last chance- _my_ last chance-to win the Quidditch Cup." Wood stated firmly as he paced back and forth in front of them. "I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it. Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now. Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world-injuries-then the tournament getting called off last year…" Wood swallowed a lump in his throat, "But we also know we've got the _best - ruddy - team - in - the - school_." he continued, punching his fist into his other hand with the same old manic glint in his eye.

"We've got three _superb_ Chasers." he pointed at Angelina, Annabelle, and Katie. Alicia had been on the team for the past few years, but this year she asked to step back to being a reserve because her parents wanted her to focus on her OWLs, so Katie was finally getting her chance to shine as an actual Chaser.

"We've got two _unbeatable_ Beaters." Wood continued, gesturing to Fred and George.

"Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us." the twins said together, pretending to blush. Anna rolled her eyes at them.

"And we've got a Seeker who has _never failed to win us a match_!" Wood continued, glaring at Harry with fierce pride. "And me." he added as an afterthought.

"We think you're very good, too, Oliver." George insisted.

"Spanking good Keeper." Fred added.

"The point is," Wood started pacing again, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing…"

Wood looked and sounded so dejected that the whole team, even the twins, were sympathetic.

"Oliver, this year's our year." Fred told him firmly.

"We'll do it, Oliver!" Angelina added, Anna and Katie nodding in agreement.

"Definitely." Harry agreed.

With that meeting done and over with, Wood scheduled their training for three times a week. Unfortunately, with it being October, the weather quickly turned colder, wetter, and darker, always a _fun_ combination when flying, but they made the most of it.

 **XXX**

 **I know having Anna face her Boggart was probably cheesy, but if you think about it her third year they had Quirrell as their DADA teacher, and then Lockhart their fourth year. There's no way either of them would've taught much about Boggarts other than reading about them.**

 **And don't worry, we'll find out more about Lupin's behavior in the next chapter.**


	6. The Truth Comes Out

When Professor Lupin dismissed their Defense class for the day during the third week of October, Fred and George exchanged a look and nodded. They'd come to the conclusion to force a discussion between their new teacher and their best friend. This decision had been made after one afternoon a week back when they found Anna writing an essay for Defense Against the Dark Arts that was almost double the length it was supposed to be.

 _FLASHBACK_

 _"Bloody hell, Anna." George commented as they entered the common room and approached her seat at the couch. Her roll of parchment had rolled onto the floor and unraveled to reveal a length of about five feet long._

 _"Why are you writing an essay this long?" Fred demanded, plopping down next to her._

 _"It's that essay about Erklings for Professor Lupin." Anna mumbled, finishing another sentence before dipping her quill in her inkwell to start a new paragraph._

 _"That essay's only supposed to be about two feet long." Fred told her slowly, his eyes scanning the length of her parchment. "I think you were finished about two hours ago."_

 _"Yeah, well,…I'm trying to actually get some credit for the work I put into that class." Anna grumbled crossly._

 _"What do you mean?" George asked worriedly, sitting on the couch on her other side._

 _"Of course you guys wouldn't notice." she complained, "Everyone loves Professor Lupin; he's fun, he actually teaches us things, he's nice to everyone…"_

 _"So what's the problem?" Fred and George asked together._

 _"_ The problem _," Anna told them, "is that he doesn't treat me the same. If I raise my hand to answer a question he looks right over me and picks someone else. He doesn't call on me, he doesn't reward me like he would anyone else, he just…I don't know. I feel awkward around him. Sometimes during meals he stares at me like I'm a puzzle he can't figure out. It's driving me mental."_

 _The twins exchanged a look over Anna's head, both thinking the same thing._

 _Anna was going crazy._

 _End of Flashback_

However, over a week later, they'd noticed Anna wasn't that far off. Lupin did indeed treat her differently. He wasn't flat out rude or cruel to her like Snape, and it wasn't noticeable if you weren't looking for it, but he did indeed treat her differently from the rest of his students. So, they were going to do something about it, if only to keep their friend from doing twice as much homework for Lupin's class.

"Hey, Anna, hold on." Fred grabbed Anna's arm before she could pack up her things.

"What?" Anna asked in confusion. However, George interrupted.

"Professor Lupin?" he called as most of the class cleared out.

"Yes?" Lupin asked, pausing in packing his things away.

"Can we ask you something?" Fred added, giving Anna a tug as the twins approached Lupin's desk. Anna tried pulling away and running for it, but Fred refused to release her.

"Of course." Lupin answered easily, looking between the three curiously.

"It's come to our attention you haven't really been treating our friend fairly." George answered simply. Anna stiffened in horror before kicking the back of George's ankle. He winced but otherwise didn't respond.

Lupin looked between them with mildly wide and even guilty-looking eyes. Finally, he met Anna's eyes and sighed in defeat.

"Very well. Fred, George, if you could give us a moment, I'd like to speak with…Annabelle alone."

Anna blinked. It came to her attention that this was the first time she'd ever heard Professor Lupin say her first name, while he referred to other students by their first name frequently.

The twins exchanged a glance before nodding and leaving. Anna turned and glared after them, but Fred merely smirked and winked at her before closing the door behind them.

"Have a seat. Please." Lupin suggested, waving his wand so a chair moved in front of his desk. He leaned back against his desk while Anna sat in the chair in front of him. "I truly am sorry for how I've treated you this term. There's really no excuse, but I do, sort of, have a reason."

"Okay." Anna whispered, nodding slowly.

He took a deep breath and thought for a moment, as if debating where to start. "How much do you know about your father?" he finally asked hesitantly.

Anna blinked, not expecting that question at all. "Um, I guess that depends. I know quite a bit, I suppose."

"Do you know much about his school years?" Lupin urged.

"Yeah. Mum said he was in Gryffindor, he had a group of friends, and they were always pranking people and causing problems." she admitted, trying not to smile. She didn't want people knowing she didn't exactly despise her father.

Lupin's lips twitched in a small smile. "I was friends with Sirius in school."

Anna's mouth fell open in shock.

"I take it your mother never mentioned that?" Lupin urged, keeping his face carefully blank.

Anna thought for a moment. "Well, she told me about James Potter…And I remember hearing about…Peter something…now that I think about it, on Christmas a couple years ago she mentioned the names Peter and…Remus?" she finished as more of a question, looking up hesitantly at Professor Lupin.

He smiled sadly and nodded. "That would be me, yes. And I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that that's the most she mentioned me. I wouldn't be surprised if she hated me."

"Why?" Anna asked curiously.

"Because…you have to understand, that night was the worst one of my life. It felt like I lost all my best friends in one night. Two of them were dead and one was being put in Azkaban for it. I couldn't handle the pain, so I sort of went off the grid. It was hard being around people, but I always felt horribly guilty for leaving you and your mother to grieve alone. Wren was almost as close of a friend to me as your father was. I should've been there for you both, and for not doing so, I am truly sorry."

"You recognized me on the train." Anna whispered.

"I did. Well, not quite at first. But obviously when…George, was it?…said your full name it was pretty easy to see it."

"It was Fred, actually." Anna smiled slightly.

Lupin returned the smile. "I was surprised you chose to have gray eyes. What with your Metamorphic abilities."

"That's my natural eye color. I just don't choose crazy eye and hair colors like my cousin."

"Ah, yes, your cousin,…Nymphadora, right? Your parents babysat her a couple times."

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to go by Tonks, but yeah. That one. We got to know each other during her last couple years at Hogwarts."

"Right. Well, I was more referring to…well, your father's eyes were gray." Lupin admitted quietly.

Anna nodded, looking down. "Yeah,…I'm not sure why I chose to keep them gray. I was…maybe eight or nine when I just stuck with that color. Same with my hair."

Lupin nodded slowly. "If you don't mind my asking…do you know the extent of your relationship to…well, Harry? And James, too?"

Anna shrugged. "Well,…I know my dad is Harry's godfather, and James was mine. If that's what you're referring to."

"It is." Lupin nodded. "Has…Has that caused problems between you and Harry?" he asked slowly.

Anna shook her head slowly. "No, not really. I mean, there aren't many people who know for sure who my father is. I mean, people suspect, and I know Malfoy and his goons know, so I'm sure they'll try and use it against me at the worst possible moment." Anna admitted, "But, I don't think Harry even knows…the whole story about my father and everything. So I don't think I have to worry about it yet."

Lupin nodded slowly, looking mildly worried. "As long as he doesn't find out the wrong way, by the wrong people."

Anna nodded slowly, but her thoughts were quickly moving away from Harry and the worry over how he would react.

"Professor? Can I ask you something?" she asked hesitantly.

"Of course." Professor Lupin nodded, shifting his stance to give her his undivided attention.

Anna chewed her lip nervously for a moment, staring down at her hands on her lap.

"Could…I know talking about your friends is probably painful, but I was just wondering if…maybe sometime you could tell me some stories? About my father and…just some of the stuff you all did when you were in school or something?" she asked hesitantly. After a few moments of silence, she added, "My mum's told me a few little things, like stuff about Christmas, but I just figured…you knew him longer and probably better."

There was a sigh before Professor Lupin pulled himself up to sit on the desk. "You're right, it can be painful thinking about my friends, especially your father after what he did. But…I suppose I do owe you something, a few stories if nothing else."

Anna looked up at him from under her lashes, trying not to feel too hopeful.

"When's your next class?" Lupin asked quickly, glancing at a clock at the back of the room.

"I'm actually done for the day." Anna answered.

"Alright. Is there anything you specifically want to know today?"

Anna thought for a little bit before shaking her head. "Nothing specific. I more just want to hear stories about what you were all like as kids, I guess. Or anything, really. I don't remember much from when I was little and what my dad was like."

Professor Lupin nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Well, Sirius was…well, he was loyal for one thing. Though he had a tendency to pull pranks that were a bit…dangerous at times. He played a few particularly harsh pranks on Professor Snape. Which reminds me, what you changed your boggart into…what was that all about?" he asked, a small smile appearing again.

Anna fought her own smile, looking sheepishly up at him. "Oh, that. Well,…my first year the twins and I wanted to prank the Slytherins in our year because a lot of them…weren't very nice to me. So we set a bunch of buckets full of green slime up above the dungeon stairs and put a Timer spell and Vanishing spell on them so the buckets would vanish at a certain time. Unfortunately, Snape decided to go to the classroom early that morning and was arriving at the same time as the rest of the Slytherins. So, he also got drenched in the stinky, green stuff."

Lupin chuckled. "I doubt he was pleased."

"No, not at all. In fact, he kinda overreacted. He freaked out, yelled, grabbed my arm, took a bunch of points from Gryffindor, and gave me and the twins detention."

Lupin nodded. "If I had to guess, it probably brought back some childhood memories. Like I said, Sirius was rather… _ruthless_ toward Snape. I assume he's been a bit harsh toward you in general?"

"Oh. Yeah. He likes to humiliate me as much as possible. He called me out in my very first Potions class, and announced to the whole class that my mother got pregnant while still being in school. But from what I've heard, he's just as tough on Harry. I'm assuming he didn't like James, either?"

"Oh, no, he hated James about as much as he hated Sirius. Not entirely sure why, though." Lupin admitted.

"My mum told me my friendship with Fred and George reminds her of all of you." Anna told him searchingly.

Lupin chuckled. "Yes, I've picked up on that. Though I'm sure the twins are a bit more…protective over you. Though, I get the sense that's mostly because of a certain Slytherin." he added pointedly.

Anna looked down. "Oh. You heard about that, then."

"I don't normally read the _Daily Prophet_ , but I did happen upon a certain article involving Marcus Flint, yes. And Professor McGonagall has ranted and raved a couple times about Flint being allowed back into the school. Not to mention that little standoff between him and the Weasley twins during the Start of the Year feast. That was kinda hard to miss."

"Yeah. They were really upset when they found out about Flint getting away with it. Their whole family was, really."

"Understandable. That's what friends are for, right?"

"Yeah." Anna nodded.

She spent the next hour in Professor Lupin's classroom, listening to him tell stories about his friends, her father, and even some stories from when she was a baby.

"Considering the twins have called you 'Anna' on numerous occasions, I take it your mother still calls you that?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Well,…that was typically what most people called you. The day you were born that's just what your parents started calling you when 'Annabelle' became a bit much. But I remember James and I gave you a different nickname, and sometimes your dad would call you that, too."

"What was it?" Anna asked eagerly, leaning forward in her seat.

"Belle." Lupin shrugged, "It wasn't unique by any means, but we always thought it was fitting. Belle means beauty, and James always joked that it was good you took after your mom's looks. So we tended to call you Belle, Little Belle, Baby Belle. Things like that. Your mother didn't really call you that, but we all knew she loved it." he said quietly, a small, thoughtful smile spread over his lips.

Anna's lips twitched, too. "So,…you haven't spoken to my mum in twelve years?" she checked.

"Not a word." he admitted, sounding ashamed.

"Well, I'm not sure what she thinks of you, since she never spoke of you, but I know she's very understanding. And she gets a little lonely when I'm at school. If you were all as close as you say, I'm sure she'd love to hear from you. Maybe you could write to her?" she suggested.

Lupin nodded slowly, deep in thought over the suggestion. "I may just do that." he answered after several moments. Then, he cleared his throat and stood up off the desk. "It's nearly dinner time. You should probably head toward the Great Hall."

Anna nodded, standing from her seat and stretching her arms over her head. "Yeah, I guess. Oh, Professor," she turned back to him after turning to leave. When Lupin turned to face her again, she continued, "I know you probably don't want to make a big deal out of…our knowing each other and all that, but…well, if you ever wanted to call me 'Belle', I wouldn't mind it."

Lupin smiled softly. "Thank you. I'll keep that in mind,…Belle ."

Smiling in return, Anna grabbed her bag and left the classroom to go to dinner. When she reached the Great Hall, she approached her friends at their usual spot at the Gryffindor table. The twins had apparently just arrived and were sitting across from Lee and Angelina. Coming up behind them, she swatted them both on the back of the head before sitting down between them.

"Ow! What the bleeding hell was that for?" they demanded in unison.

"That was for abandoning me in what could've turned into an extremely embarrassing situation." she told them simply, before wrapping an arm around both of them in a brief side hug. "And that was because it worked out." she added as she started serving herself food.

"It did?" Fred's face lit up.

"So, what'd he say? Why was he acting weird with you?" George asked eagerly.

"Um, maybe I'll tell you the full story later, but for now…I'll just say he's an old family friend who felt guilty and awkward for leaving my mum and I alone for twelve years."

The twins looked extremely curious, but Anna meant what she said. She'd tell them a more detailed version when they were alone.

XXX

Anna just managed to successfully Vanish her mouse when Professor McGonagall announced the end of the lesson and wishing everyone a good day. However, as everyone started packing up, she spoke again.

"Oh, Ms. Black. Please stay behind. I'd like to speak with you briefly."

Anna glanced at Fred in confusion, but he merely shrugged.

"Did you pull a prank without us?" George asked in mock dismay.

Anna rolled her eyes. "No, George. I'll see you guys at dinner."

The twins nodded before following their other friends out of the classroom. Anna looked after them for a moment before hiking her shoulder bag onto her shoulder and approaching her teacher's desk.

"You wanted to speak with me, Professor?"

"Yes, Ms. Black." McGonagall gathered a pile of papers and set them aside before turning her full attention to her student, resting her elbows on her desktop. "I just wanted to speak with you about something. The first Hogsmeade trip of this year is scheduled for Halloween, this coming weekend. The notice will be posted in a couple hours, I expect."

Anna nodded slowly, silently wondering where this was going. Was she going to be banned from Hogsmeade trips for some reason?

"I am telling you this," McGonagall continued, "because I would like to suggest you skip it this time around."

"What?" Anna asked, completely caught off guard and confused.

"I won't forbid you from going, because that would feel like a punishment. However, I must strongly suggest you not go for safety reasons. At least until Sirius Black is found."

"You think…he'd come after me?" Anna asked carefully.

"I doubt he'd try anything in Hogsmeade. However, there is some vacant space between the castle and the village. I'd prefer it if you didn't go, but if you insist on going, I implore you be careful. I am sure the Weasley twins would guard you with their lives, if necessary. And I doubt you're the target Sirius Black would go after. I just ask you either not go, or be very vigilant and stay in groups."

Anna nodded slowly. "Well,…if it's okay, I think I'll still go…it's just that Hogsmeade trips are a big thing with me and my friends, and they'd be disappointed if I stayed behind…and my cousin, Tonks, wanted to visit me on a Hogsmeade trip and she's training to be an Auror. So, I think I should be okay. I promise I'll be careful."

Professor McGonagall nodded, still looking mildly worried but accepting at the same time. "Very well, that's understandable. If that's all, you're dismissed to get to your next class."

XXX

The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Anna had just enough time between her last class and Quidditch practice to write a quick note to Tonks telling her about the first Hogsmeade trip and asking if she was interested in meeting for lunch.

After practice, Anna followed the rest of the team to the common room, cold and stiff from the crappy weather. When they entered the portrait hole with George in the lead, followed by Anna, Harry, Fred, Angelina, and Katie; they found the room buzzing with excitement.

Anna followed George over to talk to Lee.

"What's going on?" George asked curiously, leaning against his broomstick with Anna at his side.

"First Hogsmeade trip. Halloween." Lee told them excitedly.

"Brilliant!" George beamed, "I am a bit low on dungbombs, now that I think about it."

"Yeah." Anna mumbled distractedly.

"What's with you?" Lee asked curiously just as Fred walked over, having stopped to talk to Harry, Ron, and Hermione by the fireplace.

"Well,…McGonagall already told me about the Hogsmeade trip when she asked me to stay behind in class today. She suggested I not go, with…Sirius Black being on the loose and all. I told her I'd just be careful. Besides, I wrote to Tonks and asked if she wanted to meet me for lunch at the Three Broomsticks."

"Ah, you'll be fine." Fred waved it off, "Black wouldn't try anything in a huge crowd at Hogsmeade."

"And you'll be with us most of the time, or your cousin. Isn't she an Auror?" George asked.

"She's almost finished her training." Anna answered with a nod.

"OY!"

Everyone in the common room looked over to see Ron lunging for his bag, which Hermione's cat, Crookshanks, had sank all his claws into. The cat was now tearing his claws into it viciously.

"GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!" Ron shouted, trying to pull his bag away, but the cat continued to cling to the bag, spitting and slashing at the fabric.

"Ron, don't hurt him!" Hermione fretted.

"I think Ron should be more worried about having his hand shredded." Fred muttered, looking amused at his brother's expense.

Ron whirled his bag around, but the cat continued to cling to it. However, something small and brown came flying from the top of the bag. Anna stared in shock as Scabbers, Ron's rat, landed and scurried away.

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron bellowed as the cat managed to free his claws from the tattered fabric. It sprang over the table in pursuit of the rat. It was running toward Anna and her friends, so Anna tried to grab Scabbers while George lunged for Crookshanks. They both missed and Scabbers streaked through about twenty pairs of legs and took shelter beneath an old chest of drawers. Crookshanks skidded to a halt, crouching low so he could make furious swipes beneath it with one of his front paws.

Ron and Hermione both rushed over. Hermione grabbed her cat from around the middle and heaved him away while Ron threw himself down onto his stomach so he could pull his rat out by the tail.

"Look at him!" he shouted, dangling Scabbers in front of Hermione. "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" Hermione defended her cat, her voice shaking for the whole common room to hear, "All cats chase rats, Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal!" Ron stated firmly, trying to put Scabbers back into his pocket. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"Oh, what rubbish." Hermione rolled her eyes impatiently, "Crookshanks could _smell_ him, Ron, how else d'you think-"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" Ron cut her off, which caused dozens of people to start laughing, including Fred and George. "And Scabbers was here first, _and_ he's ill!" With that, Ron turned and marched up the stairs to his dormitory.

Laughter remained at Ron's expense as everyone slowly went back to their own conversations. Fred and George began telling embarrassing stories about their youngest brother while Anna turned to look at Hermione. Her eyes moved down to stare at the small beast in the bookworm's arms. Crookshanks was rather big for a cat and bandy-legged with fluffy, ginger fur, a bottlebrush tail, and a squashed face. As she was examining him, the cat turned his head and met her eyes straight on.

Anna paused, staring into the cat's wide, yellow eyes. Something felt off. Crookshank's eyes seemed almost…intelligent. As if he knew more than a normal cat should.

A large force bumped into Anna's back, jerking her back to find that Lee had jokingly shoved George, causing him to bump into her. She returned to their conversation, pushing all abnormal thoughts to the back of her mind for now.

XXX

The morning of Halloween arrived just as chilly as every evening during the week before. Everyone ate a quick breakfast before leaving for the front door to be checked off by Filch and allowed out of the castle. Anna noticed that Harry looked very depressed and was saying goodbye to Ron and Hermione at the door. Anna guessed his evil aunt and uncle didn't sign his permission slip. Then again, he _did_ blow up his aunt.

The twins were practically skipping as their group made their way down the path to the village. Anna wasn't sure why, after all they visited Hogsmeade illegally all the time.

Their first stop was Zonko's, where Anna, Lee, Fred, and George stocked up on plenty of joke products. Fred bought two whole boxes of Stink Pellets and Lee bought some new fireworks.

They made a quick stop in J. Pippin's Potions, the local apothecary, to buy a few potions ingredients to make a few of their joke product ideas.

They stopped in Honeydukes for a while, mostly so the other girls and Lee could stock up on their own treats. Anna, Fred, and George bought a couple sweets, but they still had plenty from their _unconventional_ trips.

Finally, they stopped at the Three Broomsticks so they could drop Anna off for lunch with her cousin while the others did a few other things.

When they entered the smoky, warm pub and Anna quickly found her cousin with green hair in ringlets down her back.

"There she is. I'll see you guys later." Anna turned and told her friends.

"Alright. We'll meet you here around one for some warm butterbeers, alright?" Fred told her as the others moved to leave.

"Yep. See you guys later." Anna smiled at them before hurrying across the pub to a booth. "Dora!"

"Anna!" Tonks beamed at her, standing up and giving her cousin a tight hug. When they pulled away, Anna moved to sit across from the older girl. "Wotcher, cuz. How goes things at Hogwarts?"

"Pretty good, all things considered." Anna answered with a half smile, half grimace.

"Oh, yes. I assume you're referring to an escaped convict relation." Tonks commented. Their conversation was paused as they ordered warm butterbeers and their lunch.

"Well, sort of. That and many other things, some related, some not." Anna admitted.

"Care to elaborate, or is it something you want to keep to yourself?" Tonks asked knowingly.

Anna shrugged. "A bit of both. I'm assuming you know a lot of the…finer details to my father's crimes?"

"My mother told me the story when his escape was announced." Tonks answered with a nod.

"Well,…James Potter was my godfather, and my dad was Harry's…" Anna started quietly, which Tonks nodded to, signaling this wasn't news to her. "I'm sort of friends with Harry, we're on the Quidditch team, his best friend is Ron Weasley, the younger brother to my best friends…Most people don't know for certain who my father is, but many speculate. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy and his goons know because his mother-"

"Narcissa Malfoy." Tonks interrupted, her nose wrinkled with dislike. "She's my mum's sister. Obviously, we've never met, but I know enough. I take it her son is just as disturbed as her and her husband?"

Anna nodded. "You don't know the half of it. The kid's a little arse, and now he's trying to get Buckbeak and Hagrid in trouble. But that's a different story. Anyway, um,…our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher is apparently an old family friend. Actually, he was best friends with my father, and pretty close with my mother, too. We're keeping that kinda quiet, because it might look bad to some people, him being former friends with an escaped murderer who supposedly wants to break into Hogwarts."

"Speaking of…what're your thoughts on Sirius Black?" Tonks asked curiously, taking a sip of her butterbeer when it arrived.

Anna took a sip of her own, enjoying the sweet, warm drink as it settled in her belly and warmed her through. She was silent for a long moment as she debated what to tell her cousin. "In all honesty?" she asked hesitantly.

When Tonks nodded with a serious expression, Anna admitted, "I…I want to think he's innocent." When Tonks' eyebrows slowly rose up under her bangs, Anna continued, "I know that sounds completely barmy and-and naive, but…I've heard stories about him from my mum…and I've seen old pictures. The man in those photos and stories…he would never betray his best friends. He would never join Voldemort and kill people and do something that would get him taken away from his family. I just…I can't believe that."

Tonks nodded slowly, taking another sip of her drink and taking her time to answer. "Well,…I'm older than you. I was about…eight, I think, when your dad was arrested. He babysat me quite a few times, and…if I'm being honest, you're right." Anna's eyes went wide. "Granted, we were children, and children may not be able to see the tells of a traitor any better than adults. However, the man I remember, and the man my mother talks about occasionally, wouldn't have done those things. For Merlin's sake, he ran away from his family _because_ of their pureblood insanity. He was labeled a bloodtraitor, his father-in-law, your grandfather, is a Muggle. It just doesn't make sense for him to change allegiances like that."

"Yes!" Anna threw her hand out toward her cousin. "Exactly. Thank you. I…I'm glad I'm not alone." she admitted quietly at the end.

"I take it you haven't shared this opinion with many people." Tonks guessed as their food arrived.

Anna's eyebrows rose. "Obviously. It isn't exactly a popular opinion. People are already speculating he's my father, and that I helped him escape. And knowing Malfoy, he's just waiting for the perfect opportunity to tell everyone what he knows to try and undermine me. Like father, like son." she muttered at the end.

"Hm." Tonks nodded in agreement as she chewed her first bite. "Sounds about right. So anyway, last thing on this subject. If you need someone to talk to about this theory of yours, or just need to vent, you can write me anytime. Okay?"

Anna smiled. "Thanks, Dora."

Tonks winked with a smirk. "No problem. Now, how's Quidditch been going so far? You guys better knock Slytherin on their arse."

XXX

After lunch, Tonks left when the rest of Anna's friends arrived at the Three Broomsticks. They hung out in Hogsmeade for another couple hours before heading back up to the castle, their faces pink from the cold. The Halloween Feast was just as entertaining as it was every year. Nearly-Headless Nick reenacted his own beheading, which was both entertaining and disturbing in Anna's opinion.

"Seriously, though. I feel _so bad_ for Sir Nicholas!" Anna ranted to her friends as they followed the flow of the crowd back toward Gryffindor Tower. "Can you imagine how painful his death must've been? Forty-five hacks! It took them forty-five hits of an axe to kill him, and even then his head remained intact! What-they couldn't have found _some way_ to sharpen the blade?!"

"Ugh, I don't even want to think about it." Alicia grimaced, rubbing her own neck with her hand as if the thought itself was painful.

They reached the corridor with the portrait of the Fat Lady, only to find it already jammed with students.

"What the-?" Fred stood up on his tiptoes to try and see over people's heads. George, on the other hand, started pushing his way through the crowd to get to the front. Anna and the others quickly followed the path he cleared. When they came to the front, they fanned out and froze in horror at what they saw.

The portrait of the Fat Lady was slashed viciously, chunks of the canvas missing and strips littering the floor. The Fat Lady herself was missing.

"How-?" Anna was completely bewildered and horrified, but before she could finish her question, someone started pushing their way through the crowd behind them.

"Let me through, please." Percy was demanding, "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password-excuse me, I'm Head Boy-" Percy suddenly fell silent as he pushed between Anna and Fred to see the portrait. A chill spread through the corridor, the silence growing tense.

Then, Percy demanded in a sharp voice, "Somebody get Professor Dumbledore. Quick."

There was whispering and rustling in the back of the crowd before, after a few moments, Professor Dumbledore swept through the crowd. Anna stepped back against the wall, turning to watch the headmaster approach. Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape arrived just behind him.

Dumbledore gave the portrait a quick look before speaking in a calm, yet mildly urgent voice. "We need to find her. Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" Peeves the Poltergeist cackled delightedly, sweeping down over everyone's heads.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" Dumbledore asked calmly. Peeves' grin faded a little. He wouldn't dare disrespect Dumbledore.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful." he said in a happy voice that did not match the news. "Poor thing."

"Did she say who did it?" Dumbledore asked.

"Oh yes, Professorhead. He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see." Peeves flipped over and grinned at Dumbledore from between his legs, "Nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

Gasps erupted down the corridor as whispers spread like wildfire. Anna stood in complete shock, her arms crossed over her chest as if to protect herself from this news.

Why? Why would her father do this? He said he was innocent. But an innocent man wouldn't slash a painting and try to get inside the Gryffindor common room. It didn't make sense.

A familiar, mildly gangly yet strong arm wrapped around her arms and lead her in a slow walk. Blinking rapidly, Anna looked up to see Fred walking at her side with his arm around her, George on her other side. When she finally allowed her eyes to look past her friends, she realized the teachers were herding them back the way they'd come, toward the Great Hall. And several people kept glancing at her, specifically. Whispering among themselves, pointing at her, whispering what was no doubt crazy assumptions and accusations.

All the Gryffindors reached the Great Hall. The tables were pushed off to the sides, leaving the space wide open. Anna finally stepped away from her friends, approaching the corner to the left of the entrance. Curling up against the corner of the cool, brick wall. She folded her arms over her stomach, grateful she'd worn her Weasley jumper to keep warm.

Her friends followed her and Katie was quick to sit snuggly at Anna's side, leaning her head on Anna's shoulder. Fred and George sat on Anna's other side while Angelina, Alicia, and Lee sat in a half-circle around them.

"I'm sure no one actually believes you helped him." Angelina told Anna quietly, trying to avoid being overhead by the group of third year girls behind them.

"Yeah. Just the thought is completely barmy." George added, leaning forward to see Anna from around his twin. "I mean, _you_ help Black into the castle? You were in Hogsmeade or the feast the whole time. You couldn't've slipped away long enough to help him."

"Yeah." Anna mumbled quietly. She couldn't really tell her friends that that was the least of her worries. She simply couldn't understand that if her father was truly innocent, like she'd believed for the past few years, why he would try to break into the Gryffindor common room. That would be something he would do if he were actually after Harry, like many adults and teachers believed. She couldn't come up with an argument for why he'd do it if he really were innocent.

Soon, purple sleeping bags were passed around and the other houses joined Gryffindor on the cold, hard floor of the Great Hall.

Anna sat herself down in her sleeping bag between Fred and Katie. She was staring blankly around the Hall when her eyes met Draco Malfoy's. She blinked and realized he was smirking cruelly at her. She watched, dread slowly filling her, as he leaned over. His arm was in a sling, but he leaned on his other hand to whisper something in Pansy Parkinson's ear, his eyes not leaving Anna's.

Her eyes only shifted from his when she saw Pansy's face light up, looking excited and even devious. She leaned away from Draco to quickly scan the Great Hall. When her eyes landed on Anna, she grinned before leaning over to whisper something to her group of friends. It was like she was watching a disease spread from one person to the next as people continued spreading whatever it was Draco had started.

Swallowing thickly to keep down her panic, Anna quickly laid down in her sleeping bag and rolled over onto her stomach to avoid looking at anyone.

"Everyone into their sleeping bags!" Percy shouted into the Great hall. He had been left in charge of the rest of the students while the staff searched the castle for her father. "Come on, now, no more talking! Lights out in ten minutes!"

Anna stared ahead at the brick wall inches from her nose, her chin rested on her hands. Her friends were still whispering among themselves around her, Fred's hand rubbing soothing circles on Anna's back. But their whispering couldn't drown out the whispering around her; people throwing around theories for how Sirius Black got in the castle unseen. Some thought he'd apparated, some thought he was wearing a disguise, some thought he'd flown in, and of course a few people thought Anna had managed to help him in somehow.

Anna was actually glad when Percy shouted again, "The lights are going out now! I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

The candles went out, leaving the Great Hall completely dark apart from the ghosts floating in and out of the walls and the stars on the enchanted ceiling. Unfortunately, people still whispered, but Anna ignored them, staring up at the stars in the enchanted ceiling, and eventually managed to fall asleep.

XXX

The next morning, Anna was woken up by Fred rolling over in his sleep and smacking her back with his arm. She jolted awake and looked around. She was confused for a moment about her whereabouts, but then everything from the night before came rushing back. She dropped her face back into her pillow, which muffled her groan. She could easily see this spinning out of control.

Several people around the Great Hall were getting up and leaving, probably heading for their common rooms to get ready for the day. Anna was grateful it was a Sunday and she didn't need to worry about classes.

Deciding she wanted to leave before too many people were awake to stare at her, Anna gently moved Fred's arm back to his own sleeping bag and sat up. She carefully stood up and stepped over Katie before leaving the Hall.

She passed a few Professors, who were talking among themselves, looking exhausted. She ignored the fact that a few of them watched her as she walked past. She was successful in doing so until she passed Professor Lupin talking with Professor McGonagall.

"Oh, Anna, hold on. I'd like to speak with you." Lupin called. Anna pause and waited while he wished McGonagall a good morning before hurrying after Anna.

"Before you ask, I'm fine." Anna told him quietly as they walked down the corridor.

Lupin nodded in understanding. "I figured as much. You have good friends."

Anna smiled slightly. "Yeah, I know." she hesitated for a few moments before saying, "I think Malfoy told his friends about my father. I'm not positive, but it's the only thing that makes sense. I saw him whispering to his friends, smirking at me. Then they'd all look at me and start whispering to other people."

"Hm. That does indeed sound like he was talking about you." Lupin agreed mildly. "But gossip isn't as horrible as everyone thinks. Trust me. It sometimes seems like the end of the world, when people start spreading rumors about you, but it'll all blow over in a few weeks."

"But some people think I helped my father into the castle. I didn't, I swear I didn't." Anna insisted.

"Of course not. No one would honestly believe that." Lupin agreed, "You were in Hogsmeade all day with people who can vouch for you, and you were at the feast most of the evening."

Anna nodded, smiling thankfully.

"Well, I need to head back to my office for something. When you get to the portrait hole, you'll find Sir Cadogan's painting. I believe his password is 'Quivering Wyvern'."

"Whoa, wait. Sir Cadogan? You mean that nutty Knight from the seventh floor? Why's his painting there?" Anna asked, bordering on complaining.

"None of the other paintings wanted the job. Too nervous after what happened to the Fat Lady."

Sir Cadogan's painting was one of many changes throughout the next few days. As if the Knight changing passwords twice a day wasn't bad enough, he was always challenging people to duels whenever they arrived at or left the common room. Aside from that, the school was alive with gossip. Unfortunately for Anna, she was correct in her assumption as to what Malfoy was whispering about. He had, indeed, told his fellow snakes about Anna's parentage. And of course, it spread from house to house until everyone in the castle knew it was fact.

The school was split on the subject. Some people now watched Anna as if she was going to take a page out of her father's book and blast apart a corridor of the castle. Very few didn't believe the assumption at all. And some calmly approached Anna on the subject, and didn't judge her when she told them the truth. She had decided that telling people the truth when approached was the best way to handle it. For the most part, people had the same opinion as the twins, and Katie. Just because Sirius Black was Anna's father, doesn't mean she was the same.

And to add to all of that, Madam Hooch had to watch Gryffindor's Quidditch practices. If Anna had to guess, she was doing so to watch Harry, and maybe Anna.

The team was finished changing for their final training session before Saturday's coming match when Wood stormed into the locker room with bad news.

"We're not playing Slytherin!" he announced angrily, "Flint's just been to see me. We're playing Hufflepuff instead."

"Why?" most of the team demanded. Anna remained silent. She didn't see what was so bad. She'd been dreading facing Slytherin on the pitch the whole term because she was terrified Flint would try something during the match. Besides, Hufflepuff was practically a pushover in comparison.

"Flint's excuse is that their Seeker's arm's still injured." Wood answered through gritted teeth. "But it's obvious why they're doing it. Don't want to play in this weather. Think it'll damage their chances…"

The weather had indeed been declining in the last weeks. Practically every day it was storming.

"There's _nothing wrong_ with Malfoy's arm!" Harry exclaimed furiously. "He's faking it!"

"I know that, but we can't prove it." Wood answered bitterly, "And we've been practicing all those moves assuming we're playing Slytherin, and instead it's Hufflepuff, and they're style's quite different. They've got a new Captain and Seeker, Cedric Diggory-"

Angelina and Katie suddenly giggled. Anna, who'd been sitting next to Katie, jumped slightly and looked at them in confusion, along with the guys.

"What?" Wood frowned at their lighthearted behavior. He clearly expected everyone to be as upset as he was.

"He's that tall, good-looking one, isn't he?" Ang asked.

"Strong and silent." Katie added, the pair giggling again. Katie nudged Anna with her elbow, but Anna rolled her eyes in response, smirking in amusement at her friends.

"He's only silent because he's too thick to string two words together." Fred cut in, looking grouchy.

"Aw, are you jealous, Freddie?" Anna teased him with a smirk.

"Shut up." Fred bumped her ribs with his elbow before turning back to Oliver, "I don't know why you're worried, Oliver, Hufflepuff is a pushover. Last time we played them, Harry caught the Snitch in about five minutes, remember?"

"We were playing in completely different conditions!" Wood shouted, "Diggory's put a very strong side together! He's an excellent Seeker! I was afraid you'd take it like this! We mustn't relax! We must keep our focus! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us! We _must_ win!"

"Oliver, calm down!" Fred told him, looking alarmed while Anna leaned back slightly with wide eyes. "We're taking Hufflepuff very seriously. _Seriously_."

"Oliver, we'll be fine. How about we start practice now and work out some moves that we can use on Hufflepuff?" Anna suggested gently, "We'll be fine."

Wood nodded once firmly, "You're right. Okay, everyone, let's get out there."

So, they practiced for a few hours in the rain. Only hours and hours of practice made it possible to be able to actually play in such hazy conditions. Especially passing the Quaffle, which is hard to do when you can't see the other Chasers, or the Quaffle itself.

Finally, when practice ended, the team headed back inside the castle, completely drenched with their brooms rested on their shoulders. Anna slowed her walk so she was at the back of the team, but she wasn't expecting Harry to do the same.

She hadn't spoken to Harry since before Halloween, even at practices or in the common room. She didn't know how much he knew or believed in regards to her father, so she didn't know what he would say to her.

"Hey, Anna." Harry greeted her quietly. His soaked, black hair was flattened and stuck to his head, much like everyone else's.

"Hi, Harry. How've you been?" Anna asked gently.

"I'm fine. Though it's kind of annoying that everyone's keeping an eye on me. Teachers and even Percy are watching me like guard dogs." Harry told her, his nose scrunching up with dislike.

Anna gave a weak smile. "Yeah, I imagine that would get old."

They were quiet for a few moments, their slow pace putting gradually more distance between them and their team.

"Can I ask you something?" Harry finally spoke up again.

"'Course you can." Anna answered easily, successfully hiding her nervousness.

"Well,…rumors are going around that…Sirius Black is your father? I mean, I've been wondering about it, since your last name's Black, but…well, is it true?"

Anna sighed heavily. Here goes. "Yes, Harry, it's true. Sirius Black is my father."

Harry nodded silently for a moment. "So,…how did that happen? I mean,…I've met your mum before. She's really nice. How did her and Sirius Black…?"

Anna shrugged uncomfortably. "They met in school. They dated for, I think a year or two. If you didn't already know, since Snape told everyone, my mum actually got pregnant with me their seventh year. I was born a few months after they graduated Hogwarts."

Harry nodded slowly. "And…do you know why he escaped? Who he's after?"

Anna was silent for a few moments. "Well,…I think a lot of people speculate he's after you." she answered carefully. "But I suppose that's really hard to say."

"How's it hard to say?" Harry asked carefully. "Mr. Weasley told me that Black's after me. That he thinks killing me will bring Voldemort back."

"I don't know what goes on in his head, Harry. But trust me, I'm sure you're safe. No one will let you get hurt."

Harry nodded, seeming to believe Anna somewhat for now.


	7. Memories

**HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!**

 **So, yeah, here's an extra chapter for the week since it's the twins' birthday, April 1** **st** **. Hope you all like it. : )**

 **XXX**

It was storming viciously the day of the match. After a tense breakfast, most of the school ran down to the pitch in the rain, umbrellas being ripped right from people's hands. Anna almost got whacked in the head by a loose umbrella. After the team changed in the locker room, Wood tried to give his usual pep talk, but he kept making a weird gulping noise every time he opened his mouth. Finally, he just shook his head hopelessly and lead the team onto the pitch.

The wind was so strong as they walked onto the pitch that Anna staggered into Fred, who tried to help her stand up straight, except the wind was shoving at all of them. The thunder was so loud and constant they couldn't even hear the cheering crowd in the stands.

Hufflepuff approached from the other side of the pitch in canary-yellow robes. Anna couldn't help thinking, 'At least their yellow robes will be easier to see,'. Wood and Diggory shook hands. Diggory smiled while Wood remained lock jawed.

Hooch shouted, "Mount your brooms!" but they couldn't hear her, so they just read her lips. They did as told and Hooch blew her whistle. Like the other fliers, Anna rose into the air, everyone swerving slightly in the harsh wind. Anna squinted, trying to see with the rain drops repeatedly hitting her eyes.

The Quaffle was thrown into the air and the match began. Angelina grabbed the Quaffle and shot toward the Hufflepuff goal. Anna swerved in front of a Hufflepuff Chaser so Ang had a clear shot, which she made and put Gryffindor in the lead 10-0.

Within five minutes, Anna was soaked through her skin to her bones and was so frozen she couldn't feel her hands. She was certain she wouldn't be able to unfold her hands from her broomstick later. It was very hard to see, and Chasers from both sides missed a few passes because of that. It was also hard to keep track of the Bludgers when no one could see them until they were practically in their face.

It felt like the match was going on for hours, but it was hard to tell since Anna lost track of time. It was so dark it felt like it was midnight or later. All Anna knew for sure, was that Gryffindor was in the lead, she didn't even know by how much.

Finally, Hooch's whistle came during a flash of lightning. Wood gestured the team toward the ground and the whole team splashed into the mud on the ground. Anna stumbled due to having hardly any feeling in her feet, but righted herself and followed the others toward the edge of the field.

"I called for time-out!" Wood shouted over the storm, "Come on, under here-" he lead them under a large umbrella and everyone huddled together. Anna pressed between Fred and George, even though there wasn't hardly any body heat to be worth it.

"What's the score?" Harry asked anxiously, taking off his glasses and hurriedly wiping them on his robes. Seeing as his robes were soaked, it didn't help much.

"We're fifty points up, but unless we get the Snitch soon, we'll be playing into the night." Wood answered. Anna cupped her hands in front of her mouth and blew on them to try and warm them up. They were so cold it hurt to bend her fingers. Fred dropped his arm over her shoulders to pull her snuggly into his side.

"I've got no chance with these on." Harry waved his glasses exasperatedly. Hermione Granger suddenly arrived, holding her cloak over her head and beaming.

"I've had an idea, Harry! Give me your glasses, quick!" Harry handed them over easily, and the whole team watched in amazement. Hermione tapped the glasses with her wand and said, " _Impervius_! There! They'll repel water!" she announced, handing them back to Harry.

"Nice one, Hermione." Anna grinned.

"Brilliant!" Wood called hoarsely, looking as if he would've kissed her before she disappeared back into the crowd. "Okay, team, let's go for it!"

Fred gave Anna one more squeeze and Anna tightened her ponytail quickly before rushing back out into the rain with the team. They all mounted their brooms and flew into the air. Despite still being soaked and frozen to the bone, there was a renewed sense of determination among the team.

The match resumed and Anna got a hold of the Quaffle. She zoomed under a Bludger that had been shot her way and passed the Quaffle to Katie, who zoomed toward the goals. A clap of thunder made Anna flinch slightly. A flash of lightning illuminated the stands, and Anna momentarily froze. She squinted against the rain and saw what looked like a huge, shaggy, black dog silhouetted against the sky in the topmost, empty seats.

Someone shouted and Anna tore her eyes from the dog. Diggory was pelting up the field, a tiny, gold speck in front of him. Harry sped past Anna toward him.

Suddenly, an eerie silence fell over the stadium and Anna felt like she was in slow motion. An intense, familiar cold, much worse than the freezing rain, swept over her. It soaked under her skin and into Anna's bones, heart, and lungs. It became hard to breathe as her vision became fuzzy around the edges.

 _"Flint. What the hell are you doing?"_

 _"Getting payback."_

Anna shook her head, trying to clear her vision. She could see black, cloaked figures swarming the field below, and her broom started trembling.

 _"You can scream all you want, Black. No one can hear you. No one's coming to save you."_

 _That same, searing pain erupted inside her. A familiar voice, her own once again, screaming in agony._

"Anna! Focus! Open your eyes!" a familiar voice shouted in her ear, bringing her back to the present. Anna blinked her eyes rapidly, once again feeling the icy rain pelting her skin. She could feel the smooth handle of her broomstick beneath her palms and something holding her elbow.

Shaking her head once again, Anna's vision cleared. She looked to one side and saw George hovering on his broom next to her, his face pale and worried, his hand holding her elbow. When she looked on her other side, Fred looked much the same, except his hand was holding Anna's broom on the handle right above Anna's own fists. It appeared they were keeping her steady.

Fred gently lead Anna's broom toward the ground, where they landed carefully in the mud. George held Anna steady around the waist while she dismounted her broom. That was when she properly looked around. Harry was sprawled out in the mud, unconscious with several people surrounding him. Oliver was speaking with Diggory, who looked worried and guilty.

"What happened?" Anna muttered, wrapping her arms around herself to try and warm herself while Fred took her broom.

"The dementors." George answered.

"They came onto the field. You went into a sort of trance and almost fell off your broom." Fred added. "Harry…"

"He fell off his broom from way up there." George explained, pointing up into the sky. Anna swallowed, looking worriedly back at Harry. They approached the crowd surrounding the young Seeker, consisting of the team, several Gryffindor supporters, and Dumbledore and a few teachers.

As they arrived, Dumbledore conjured a stretcher from his wand, magically lifted Harry onto it, and lead the group toward the castle.

"Come on, let's get you to the hospital wing." Fred suggested gently.

"I don't need to be at the hospital wing." Anna argued weakly.

"For one, that's where they're taking Harry. I'm assuming you want to be there for him when he wakes up." Fred pointed out.

"Two, that's the second time you've passed out because of those dementors. If nothing else, you need to eat some chocolate." George added.

" _Third_ , the last time the team went to the hospital wing with Harry and you didn't…" Fred trailed off uncomfortably, giving Anna a sheepish look.

Anna swallowed thickly at the reminder, so she nodded in agreement and allowed them to lead her toward the castle. George kept her a little warm with his arm over her shoulder while Fred carried her broom. As they walked, Anna found herself looking up at the topmost seats in the stands. Where the dog was earlier.

She shouldn't've been surprised to find it was no longer there.

Rushed footsteps followed them and the twins looked over their shoulders as Angelina joined them.

"I was just speaking with Wood." she told them, breathing semi-heavily as they walked against the harsh wind. "Diggory caught the Snitch right after Harry fell. Apparently, he didn't know Harry fell until he looked back and saw him on the ground. He wanted a rematch, but Wood refused. As much as it pained him to admit it, Hufflepuff won fair and square. Wood's heading to the showers. Looked right depressed, honestly."

Anna shook her head. Despite feeling depressed, herself, because of the dementors, she managed to feel some anger, as well. "Harry could've _died_ in that fall. Normally, I find Wood's obsession mildly amusing, sometimes annoying, but this…" she growled through gritted teeth, shaking her head. "Putting a sport before your own teams' safety is sick."

"I don't think Wood's _completely_ ignoring Harry's wellbeing." George stated as they neared the castle.

"But Anna's right, he doesn't exactly make it a priority." Fred added.

"Either way, I think we should avoid the topic when Harry wakes up." Ang pointed out. "He'll no doubt be upset about us losing, after all, this is the first match he's lost. And, well…" she hesitantly lifted her opposite hand that wasn't holding her own broom. In her other hand,…was two halves of a Nimbus 2000. Harry's broom. "Professor Flitwick got it from the base of the Whomping Willow."

Anna and the twins grimaced with pity. This would certainly be a blow to the poor Seeker.

They reached the hospital wing soon after and joined their teammates, Ron, and Hermione at Harry's bedside. Every member of the team was pale and splattered with mud from head to toe. Anna hadn't realized until she saw her teammates that she, also, had mud on her face, hands, and clothes. Even a bit in her hair. Ron and Hermione were the only ones not covered in mud, but they certainly looked like they'd just climbed out of a swimming pool. Anna noticed Hermione's eyes were bloodshot and she had tears trailing down her cheeks as she stared worriedly at her best friend.

Angelina went over to Ron and Hermione, no doubt to see if they'd be willing to break the news of the broomstick to their friend. The twins, on the other hand, each grabbed one of Anna's arms and pulled her toward Madam Pomfrey's office.

"Guys-" she tried to argue, but she stopped when Pomfrey walked out of her office and nearly collided with them, carrying a tray of potions.

"Goodness! Can't you three see I'm busy?" she scolded, trying to move around them.

"But Madam Pomfrey," Fred argued, "Anna, well…she kinda had the same reaction as Harry did to the dementors. We just kept her from falling off her broom."

Pomfrey cast a worried glance over Anna. "Oh, very well, then. Settle her down in the bed next to Mr. Potter. The house elves will be sending a tray of hot chocolates for all of you in a bit. I'll be sure to get you some extra chocolate, though, Ms. Black."

Anna blushed, but nodded in agreement as the twins lead her toward the bed next to Harry, who was still unconscious in his own bed, pale and covered in mud.

As Pomfrey promised, she handed Anna a bar of chocolate and a house elf arrived with a floating tray of mugs behind him. Everyone was given a mug of hot chocolate, and George sat on the edge of Anna's bed, facing Harry's as they all conversed, sitting on chairs around the two beds.

"He's lucky the ground was so soft." Katie commented.

"I thought he was dead for sure." Alicia admitted, wrapping an arm around Katie. The reserve Chaser had been among the first people to follow the group to the castle.

"But he didn't even break his glasses." Angelina whispered.

Anna's eyes were fixed on Harry's sleeping face as she sipped her drink. Warmth was already flooding her system, feeling returning to her fingers and toes. Because of where her gaze was focused, she saw Harry's eyes snap open and look around at all of them.

"Harry!" Fred was the first to speak. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened?" Harry demanded, sitting up so suddenly they all gasped. If Anna wasn't in a bed, herself, she would've been tempted to push him to lay back down.

"You fell off." Fred told him, his voice shaking, "Must've been-what-fifty feet?"

"We thought you'd died." Alicia told him, shaking.

"But the match. What happened? Are we doing a replay?" Harry demanded. No one said anything. In fact, Anna looked down at her lap to avoid eye contact. She knew Harry would be upset. "We didn't… _lose_?"

George spoke up, "Diggory got the Snitch. Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square…even Wood admits it."

"Where is Wood?" Harry asked, having looked around and not found their Captain. His eyes lingered on Anna when he saw her sitting in a bed, as well.

"Still in the showers. We think he's trying to drown himself." Fred answered. Anna would've hit him if he wasn't too far away. Hadn't they agreed _not_ to make Harry feel bad about losing?

Harry, indeed, must've felt bad. He put his face in his knees, hands gripping his hair. Fred stepped forward and grabbed Harry's shoulder, giving it a rough shake. "C'mon, Harry, you've never missed the Snitch before."

"There had to be one time you didn't get it." George added.

"It's not over yet. We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin…" Fred started thoughtfully.

"Hufflepuff'll have to lose by at least two hundred points." George pointed out.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw…"

"No way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff…"

"It all depends on the points, a margin of a hundred either way-"

"If you two put that much thought into your homework, your mum would be overjoyed." Anna muttered over the brim of her mug, earning some laughs from a few of the others. George scowled at her playfully before falling back and laying on her ankles. "Ow." Anna deadpanned, trying and failing to kick him.

They hung around for about ten minutes before Madam Pomfrey came over and told them to leave Harry in peace.

"Madam Pomfrey, I'm feeling much better. Can't I go, please?" Anna begged, sitting up and looking pleadingly up at the elderly woman.

Madam Pomfrey looked her over with a critical eye. "Oh,…very well. But take one more bar of chocolate with you."

"Yes, Ma'am." Anna agreed easily, accepting the bar of chocolate she was handed.

"We'll come and see you later." Fred told Harry as Anna stood up from her bed. "Don't beat yourself up, Harry, you're still the best Seeker we've ever had."

Harry gave them a weak smile as the team slowly left the room, leaving Harry to talk to his two best friends.

XXX

The Quidditch team visited Harry in the hospital wing Sunday morning, and Anna brought him a couple non-chocolate sweets leftover from her Honeydukes stash, since she suspected he'd be getting a bit tired of chocolate.

Ravenclaw managed to flatten Hufflepuff in their Quidditch match the last weekend of November, which put Gryffindor back in the running for the Cup. However, as Wood reminded them, they couldn't afford to lose another match. So, he worked the team like crazy through the chilly rain well into December.

During the start of December, Anna received a letter from her mum, via Wren's owl, Helena, saying Anna may want to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas. Wren had something work related over most of Christmas holidays and wouldn't be home much. She may even have to work on Christmas Day. After some thought, Anna decided she may as well stay at Hogwarts. It would be better than spending Christmas Day alone.

A little over a week before winter holidays, it was announced there would be a Hogsmeade trip on the last weekend before winter holidays. Everyone was excited, several planning on finishing their Christmas shopping in Hogsmeade.

Anna was at breakfast, eating quietly as she read over some notes to study for OWLs at the end of the year, when two weights, one on each side of her, slid into her on the bench. She choked on her bite of toast and turned to glare back and forth at the twins, who were sporting matching, broad grins.

"What are you tossers up to?" she asked, feeling mildly suspicious at the looks on their faces.

"We have a proposition, and we need your input." Fred told her in a business-like tone.

"Alright?" she urged, taking a sip of her tea to wash her toast down.

"We were thinking of giving Harry the map." George told her quietly, glancing around to ensure no one was listening.

Anna nodded slowly, not seeing any reason against the suggestion. "Okay. Any particular reason?"

Fred shrugged. "Spread a little festive cheer? The kid's been having it rough this year, especially with our match and the dementors and not being allowed to go to Hogsmeade…"

"We figured we can at least give him the map so he can sneak into Hogsmeade." George concluded.

Anna nodded again. "Alright. I don't see why not. I'll just ask Harry if I can use it once in a while, if I need to. I mean, you never know when I'll need it."

The twins nodded. "Fair enough."

XXX

The morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Anna and the twins ate breakfast with their friends, and Anna couldn't help noticing Harry looked completely depressed as he ate breakfast with his friends.

When they finished eating, George told the others to head down without them because they 'had something to do' before they went down. So, with promises to meet their friends at Honeydukes as soon as they could, Anna and the twins headed down the third-floor corridor and hid behind the one-eyed witch statue to wait for Harry.

Sure enough, a few minutes later Harry rounded the corner.

"Psst! Harry!" George called in a loud whisper. Harry paused and turned halfway down the corridor. He spotted Anna and the twins peaking out from behind the statue.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked curiously, "How come you're not going to Hogsmeade?"

"We've come to give you a bit of festive cheer before we go." Fred said, giving a mysterious wink. "Come in here…" he ordered, nodding toward the empty classroom to the left of the statue. Harry followed them inside, and George closed the door behind them before turning and beaming at Harry.

"Early Christmas present for you, Harry." George told him as Anna sat down on top of a nearby desk.

Fred pulled the map from inside his cloak with a flourish and laid it gently on a desk that sat between Anna and Harry. The latter stared at it.

"What's that supposed to be?"

"This, Harry, is the secret of our success." George patted the parchment fondly.

"It's a wrench giving it to you," Fred told him heavily, "but we decided last night, your need's greater than ours."

"Anyway, we know it by heart." George added. "We bequeath it to you. We don't really need it anymore."

"And what do I need with a bit of old parchment?" Harry asked.

"A bit of old parchment!" Fred closed his eyes and grimaced as if Harry had mortally offended him. Anna rolled her eyes at their dramatics, but she knew they enjoyed that type of stuff. "Explain, George."

"Well,…when we were in our first year, Harry - young, carefree, and innocent-"

Harry snorted and Anna smirked. The Weasley twins had probably never been innocent in their whole lives.

"-well, more innocent than we are now," George continued, "we got into a spot of bother with Filch."

"We let off a Dungbomb in the corridor and it upset him for some reason-" Fred started casually.

"So he hauled us off to his office and started threatening us with the usual-"

"-detention-"

"-disembowelment-"

"-and we couldn't help noticing a drawer in one of his filing cabinets marked _Confiscated and Highly Dangerous_."

"Don't tell me-" Harry started to grin.

"Well, what would you've done?" Fred asked rhetorically, "George caused a diversion by dropping another Dungbomb, I whipped the drawer open and grabbed - _this_."

"I remember that day like it was yesterday." Anna added, sitting up straight and leaning her elbow on Fred's shoulder as he stood next to her. "I was walking down the corridor with Charlie when all of a sudden - _BOOM_. A horrible stench floated from Filch's office, causing us to plug our noses, and two cackling gingers came running from the room. Ah, good times." she sighed, earning a chuckle from Harry.

"It's not as bad as it sounds, you know." George cut in. "We don't reckon Filch ever found out how to work it. He probably suspected what it was, though, or he wouldn't have confiscated it."

"And you know how to work it?" Harry asked.

"Oh yes." Fred smirked. "This little beauty's taught us more than all the teachers in this school."

"You're winding me up." Harry told them doubtfully, looking down at the parchment.

"Oh, are we?" George took out his wand and touched the tip lightly to the parchment. " _I solemnly swear that I am up to no good_."

Anna watched with a sort of fondness as the ink lines spread like spider webs from the spot George's wand touched. The strands joined, fanned out into every corner, then words blossomed across the top in curly, green words.

 _Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs_

 _Purveyors of Aids to Magical Mischief-Makers_

 _are proud to present_

 _THE MARAUDER'S MAP_

As usual, Anna's eyes trailed to one name in particular. _Padfoot_. That name always felt familiar, though she expected by now, after seeing it on the map for so many years, of course it would be.

"Right into Hogsmeade." Fred's voice cut through Anna's thoughts, his finger tracing one of the secret passages on the map. "There are seven in all. Now, Filch knows about these four," Fred pointed said four out, "but we're sure we're the only ones who know about _these_. Don't bother with the one behind the mirror on the fourth floor. We used it until last winter, but it's caved in-completely blocked. And we don't reckon anyone's ever used this one, because the Whomping Willow's planted right over the entrance. But this one, here, this one leads right into the cellar of Honeydukes. We've used it loads of times. And as you might've noticed, the entrance is right outside this room, through that one-eyed old crone's hump."

"Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs." George sighed, patting the head of the map. "We owe them so much."

"Noble men, working tirelessly to help a new generation of lawbreakers." Fred added solemnly.

"Anyway, before they go on another dramatic rant," Anna cut in, smirking teasingly at the twins, "I would just like to ask one favor in return for you using this map."

"Yeah, sure." Harry nodded.

"Obviously, we already know all the passages, but the map has other uses. I'm not sure when I'd need to use it again, but should the need for me to use it arise…I'm hoping I can borrow it again…"

"Oh, yeah, 'course." Harry agreed easily, nodding his head.

"Great, thanks." Anna smiled widely.

"Right." George spoke briskly, "Don't forget to wipe it after you've used it-"

"-or anyone can read it." Fred warned.

"Just tap it again and say, 'Mischief Managed!'." Anna told Harry, "And it'll go blank."

"So, young Harry," Fred began in an uncanny impression of Percy, "mind you behave yourself."

"See you in Honeydukes." George told him with a wink. The trio turned and left the room, smirking and feeling satisfied with themselves.

"Well, now that that's over, on to Hogsmeade!" Anna declared, hurrying down the corridor with the twins on her heels.

XXX

Their trip to Hogsmeade was very similar to most of their other Hogsmeade trips, except they split up for a bit to do some Christmas shopping. Anna just bought some small trinkets for the twins, her mum, and Charlie. However, she actually bought several bars of chocolate from Honeydukes for Hagrid. It was brought to her attention that the Buckbeak incident, combined with all the dementors around, was having a depressing affect on the half-giant. Due to having a bad experience with dementors in Azkaban the year before, Hagrid was horribly affected when the evil creatures got too close to him. So, Anna figured he could use a stash of chocolate.

They ate dinner at the Three Broomsticks before heading up to the common room. The twins, in a fit of end-of-term spirit, set off half a dozen Dungbombs in the common room. Anna laughed loudly with everyone else while plugging her nose. However, her eyes caught sight of Harry as he seemed to sneak through the common room and toward his dormitory. Anna's smile fell worriedly. His expression didn't exactly show any joy at having just been to his first trip to Hogsmeade.

XXX

The next morning was the first day of Christmas holidays. Anna went down to breakfast with her friends and hugged them all goodbye before they headed for the station to get on the train. Afterwards, she headed toward the common room and curled up on the couch with her Arithmancy book to study for OWLs later on in the year.

She was soon joined by Ron and Hermione, as far as she knew them and Harry were the only other Gryffindors to stay behind for holidays.

It was almost lunch time when Harry finally came downstairs. When Anna looked up to greet him, it was to find him already staring at her with a strange expression.

"Harry, you-you look terrible." Hermione said. Harry was pale with bags under his eyes and his hair rumpled horribly. He looked like he hadn't gotten much sleep.

He didn't acknowledge Hermione's comment. His focus was solely on Annabelle.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. His voice was so quiet Anna almost didn't hear.

Ron and Hermione shifted awkwardly, but Anna was completely confused.

"What are you talking about?" she asked hesitantly.

"Your father, a mass murderer who's escaped Azkaban, was not only my father's best friend, he was my godfather."

Anna swallowed, unsure of what to say in response.

"Why didn't you tell me he betrayed my parents?!" Harry shouted, making Anna jump, "Why didn't you tell me they were best friends? Did you not think I'd like to know that?" he demanded angrily.

Anna swallowed thickly. "Harry, I…I'm sorry. I just-"

"Oh, you're sorry." he mocked, "You're sorry you left that little bit out, huh? You're sorry that because of your murdering father I have to hear my mother screaming, pleading with Voldemort to spare my life every time those dementors come around! You're sorry-"

"Harry!" Hermione shrieked, horrified, "You can't possibly blame Annabelle for that! She was barely a toddler when it happened!"

"But she's not now." Harry argued, "How do we know all those rumors aren't true? How do we know she _isn't_ helping him into the castle? She knows the secret passages on the map, she could've shown him one."

Ron shifted slightly away from Anna on the couch, giving her a mildly suspicious look.

Anna took a deep breath, trying to think of something to say in her defense.

"First of all, I am sorry for not telling you. Judging by how you're reacting, you didn't exactly find out in a…good way." Hermione's nod was answer enough, "I wish someone had told you, I really do, but I'm not sure if _I_ would have been the best person to do so.

"That being said, I am not helping him get into the castle. If you had seen how…affected I was that night, you would know that. I was in shock, I didn't know what to think. And come on, if I was going to help him get into the castle, I would've done more than just let him into the building. And he tried to get into the common room when everyone was at the feast. Why would he do that if I was helping him? Why would he try and get in when there was no one in there?"

Harry looked down at his feet.

"She's got a point, Harry." Hermione told him hesitantly. "She knows enough that she could have made sure he didn't mess up."

"I would never help someone kill you, Harry. Family or not." Anna assured him quietly. "I'll stay away from you, if you want, but you have my word. If someone tried to…attack you, or kill you…I'd back you up. I'd even put myself in front of you if it came to that. But I understand if you want me to keep my distance." she finished, closing her book and standing up to leave.

Harry swallowed thickly for a moment before sighing, "No, I…I'm sorry. I shouldn't be blaming you. I'm just mad that there were so many people who knew and could've told me, but didn't. But I shouldn't take it all out on you. I'm sorry."

Anna smiled softly at him. "It's fine, Harry. I understand." She hesitated for a moment before saying quietly, "I doubt this would make you feel better, and it's pretty random, but…well, to round out this whole circle, your dad was my godfather, too." Harry looked up with mildly wide eyes, "My mum might have some photos around. Actually," she laughed quietly, "there's a picture on our fireplace mantle of me, my mum, and you and your mum. You were a tiny baby in the picture and I was making faces at you to make you laugh."

Harry smiled, looking both appreciative and hopeful. "Maybe…maybe I could see some of those photos sometime?" he said it as more of a question, looking uncertain.

Anna nodded quickly. "Yeah, definitely. Anyway, I'm going to head to the library to get some studying in. Being friends with the twins doesn't allow for much time to do homework and stuff." she added jokingly.

The trio laughed as Anna left the common room and headed for the library. She forced herself to study for at least a couple hours, before heading to the kitchens to grab a sandwich from the house elves. As she was walking along the corridors, just wandering aimlessly, she passed a window and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione returning from Hagrid's hut looking troubled. Anna quickly headed for Gryffindor Tower. She grabbed her winter cloak and the chocolate she'd bought Hagrid, stuffing it in her shoulder bag before hurrying back out.

She jogged lightly down the snowy path to Hagrid's hut, which was covered in the snow that was still falling, and knocked loudly on the front door. There was a thud and some shuffling before the door creaked open to reveal Hagrid's face. His face was red, eyes bloodshot, and his beard was wet. It was clear he'd been crying, and Anna was suddenly worried.

"'ave yeh heard?" he asked, opening the door to let her in. "Did they tell yeh?"

"Um, no. What are you talking about?" Anna asked. There was a loud flap and she jumped and spun around to see Buckbeak quickly standing up in the corner. He looked happy to see her. "Buckbeak?" Anna smiled, quickly approaching the hippogriff to wrap her arms around his neck. "Wait," she pulled away and turned to face Hagrid, one arm still over Buckbeak's neck, "why's Buckbeak in your house?"

Hagrid sat down at his table, passing her a letter before taking a hearty drink of what looked like tea. Frowning worriedly, Anna read the letter while still running the fingers of her free hand through Buckbeak's feathers.

' _Dear Mr. Hagrid,_

 _Further to our inquiry into the attack by a hippogriff on a student in your class, we have accepted the assurance of Professor Dumbledore that you bear no responsibility for the regrettable incident._

 _However, we must register our concern about the hippogriff in question. We have decided to uphold the official complaint of Mr. Lucius Malfoy, and this matter will therefore be taken to the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures. The hearing will take place on April 20_ _th_ _, and we ask you to present yourself and your hippogriff at the Committee's offices in London on that date. In the meantime, the hippogriff should be kept tethered and isolated._

 _Yours in fellowship…_

And after that followed a list of the school governors.

Anna's mouth hung open, her hand almost fisting the parchment.

"This can't be real." she whispered, shaking her head slightly, "They can't be serious, Hagrid. Right?"

"t'is." Hagrid mumbled, looking on the verge of tears again, "'ermione, Harry, and Ron are gonna help me wit' Buckbeak's case, but them Committee members…they're in Malfoy's pocket."

"Everyone's in Malfoy's pocket." Anna grumbled, placing the letter back on the table and sitting across from Hagrid. Fang crawled out of his bed and came over, nudging his nose into Anna's wrist so she would pet him. "Don't worry, Hagrid. If Hermione's helping with your case you've got a good chance. Hey, what if I wrote about what happened my first year? When Buckbeak helped save me in the forest?"

A large smile spread over Hagrid's face under his beard. "Tha's a _great_ idea, Anna!"

"And I was there when Buckbeak attacked Malfoy. I heard him insult Buckbeak, and you specifically told the whole class that we shouldn't insult hippogriffs. So, that should count for something, right? I could be a witness. And I could write to Charlie and tell him about this. I'm sure he could write something about Buckbeak, he knew him for longer than I did, right?"

"I s'pose it couldn't hurt." Hagrid nodded, still smiling a bit.

"Great." Anna beamed, "I've got some parchment and quills in my bag," she lifted the strap of her bag over her head and placed it on her lap, "I could write it out while I'm here. I don't have anything better to do. I've already studied for about three hours today. And later tonight or something, I could get that to Hermione so we can keep all the evidence in one place. And I'll write to Charlie either tonight or tomorrow. That work?"

"A'course that works, Anna. Take your time, yeh can stay as long as yeh like." Hagrid assured her.

Hagrid had to leave the hut for a bit to do some groundkeeper duties, so Anna grabbed a quill, bottle of ink, parchment, and a book to write on before moving and curling up next to Buckbeak.

First, she wrote out her background with Buckbeak, focusing mainly on the night she crashed in the forest and he found her. She'd have to ask Charlie to write out his version since he was one of the people who Buckbeak lead to her. He'd be able to give some more details. Then, she wrote about what she heard Malfoy say when he insulted Buckbeak.

She had just finished writing everything when Hagrid came back inside, Fang bounding inside after him like a puppy.

"I just finished writing everything out." Anna told him as he pulled off his moleskin overcoat. "And I was just thinking, the way I'm sitting…do you think showing a photo of that might help?" she asked, showing the way Buckbeak was curled around her with his head next to her leg.

"Ah, yeah tha's a good idea!" Hagrid boomed happily, hurrying across the small hut. He dug around in a pile of junk before pulling out a beaten up old camera that his enormous hands almost covered. Anna smiled, but looked back down at her parchment with her quill to make it look like she was still writing. She waited a few seconds after the camera flashed before looking up.

"I'll have Professor Flitwick develop the picture an' get it to yeh or Hermione." Hagrid told her.

"Alright, that works." Anna nodded before her eyes caught sight of the world outside Hagrid's window. It was still lightly snowing, but the sun was nearly done setting, the sky growing dark. "Shoot, I better go. Wouldn't want to get detention over break just for being out after dark."

"I'll walk yeh up to the castle." Hagrid told her in a strange voice as he placed the camera on his table. Anna expected he didn't want her to risk running into her father on the way.

"Oh, before I forget." Anna stood up and walked up to her bag. She laid her things out on the table to continue drying before digging around in her bag. She pulled out the small stack of chocolate bars and passed them to Hagrid. "I bought these for you for Christmas, might as well give them to you now. I know you're struggling with all the dementors around."

"Oh, yeh didn' 'ave to do that." Hagrid told her even as he took the chocolate and held them as if it was the best gift ever. "I hope yer buyin' yerself plenty a' chocolate, too. I heard you n' Harry had a hard time on the train and durin' yer match."

Anna looked down sheepishly, gathering her things together. "Yeah. Don't worry, Hagrid. I've got a whole stash of chocolate in my dormitory. Anyway, we should get going."

Hagrid walked her all the way to the castle before they parted ways, and Anna headed up to Gryffindor Tower. She gave Sir Cadogan the password, ignoring his duel challenging, and climbed in through the portrait hole.

She found Harry, Ron, and Hermione sprawled out around the common room reading huge books. It was almost surprising, though Anna suspected it was about Buckbeak's hearing.

"Hey. So, you guys heard about Buckbeak?" she greeted them, plopping her bag on the ground and pulling her cloak off.

"Yeah. We're looking into some famous cases that are similar to see what we can do." Hermione answered, not even looking up from her own enormous book.

"Well, I wrote these out while I was at Hagrid's." Anna told them, pulling both parchments from her bag and passing them to Hermione. "I'm also going to write to Charlie and ask him to send his account of Buckbeak saving me first year to hopefully gain Buckbeak some brownie points. And Hagrid took a picture of me curled up with Buckbeak while I was writing, so as soon as he gets that developed, I'll get it to you." she finished as she sat on the couch near Ron.

"Wow, this is great. The more witnesses we can get, the better." Hermione smiled as she skimmed both of Anna's parchments. "Thanks, Anna."

Anna scoffed. "Don't thank me, Granger. Buckbeak saved my life once, there's no way I'm not returning the favor. Especially if _Lucius Malfoy_ is involved." she grimaced with hatred at his name. "If anything, I should be thanking you guys for doing this."

XXX

Anna woke up Christmas morning to find a small pile of presents at the foot of her bed.

She got her usual Weasley jumper from Molly. The twins got her some screaming socks. Her mum got her a new scarf. Charlie sent her a moving postcard from Romania with a picture of a mother dragon with her baby. Hagrid sent her two copies of the photo he took of her curled up with Buckbeak and a note telling her that one copy was hers to keep.

The present she got that didn't entirely make sense, however, was another photo. It was worn, wrinkled, and faded with age; and there was no note or writing to tell her who it was from. The black and white photo was set in her living room, and she recognized Professor Lupin in the background, though he looked much younger. And there were Christmas decorations in the background, like tinsel on the fireplace mantel. However, front and center of the photo was what drew Anna's attention.

She'd seen enough baby photos of herself to know the toddler in the picture was herself. She was wearing a frilly dress and climbing over a big, shaggy, black dog, who looked perfectly at ease as she used his fur to pull herself over his back.

"Padfoot." The name barely left Anna's lips on a breath as she stared at the dog. She wasn't even entirely sure why her brain connected the two. She didn't even know she remembered such things, but seeing this picture brought back many memories. She could remember playing with that dog, climbing on him, napping curled up against him, hugging him, giggling as it licked her face. The memories were fuzzy, but they were there. And for some reason, she wanted to call that dog 'Padfoot'. And she wasn't sure why.

After staring at the photo for several minutes, Anna decided to get dressed and head downstairs. Hermione was sitting alone in the corner while Ron and Harry were oohing and aahing over what looked like a broomstick.

"What are you two so excited about?" Anna asked with a small smile as she sat down next to the other girl in the room.

"Look what Harry got for Christmas!" Ron beamed excitedly, lifting the broomstick up for Anna to see. Her mouth fell open.

"Is that…a _Firebolt_?" she asked in amazement. "Who got you a Firebolt?" she demanded. Due to his Nimbus crashing into the Whomping Willow, Harry had been using a school broom during practices, which was slow and shaky. She was pleased to see that he not only had a new broom of his own, it was probably the best one in the market.

"We don't know." Harry shrugged. "There wasn't a note with it."

"Huh. Big present for someone to give anonymously." she noted. Hermione huffed from next to her and she glanced over. "Oh, Hermione. Here. Hagrid gave this to me for Christmas. Well, he gave me two copies 'cause he figured I'd like one for myself, which I do." she explained with a smile as she held out the photo of herself and Buckbeak.

Hermione took the photo and smiled when she saw it. "Aw, that's so sweet. If that doesn't at least tug the Committee's heartstrings, I don't know what will. I'll go put it with the rest of our evidence in my dormitory."

"Just don't let that beast out when you do." Ron told her in a hostile tone.

"Don't worry, I won't." Hermione snapped back, "I wouldn't want you _kicking_ him again."

Anna looked back and forth between the boys and Hermione as she stomped up the stairs.

"What was that about?"

"Her bloody fleabag tried to attack Scabbers again." Ron answered angrily.

"So you _kicked_ him?" Anna asked. Being an animal lover, the idea of someone kicking a cat, no matter the case, rubbed her the wrong way.

"I _tried_ to. I kicked a trunk instead." he grumbled.

They hung out in the common room for a while before going down to the Great Hall for Christmas dinner. The only other people present included Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, Sprout, and Flitwick, Filch, two first years, and a grouchy Slytherin fifth year that Anna didn't know the name of. The house tables were pushed against the walls so they all had to sit at a single table.

Anna sat next to Hermione, who seemed to still be mad at Ron. They made small talk while they ate, but nothing really eventful happened until Professor Trelawney joined them as they were serving themselves.

Anna didn't pay her much attention until she asked a question that piqued her interest.

"But where is dear Professor Lupin?"

"I'm afraid the poor fellow is ill again." Dumbledore told her, indicating everyone should serve themselves. "Most unfortunate that it should happen on Christmas Day."

"But surely you already knew that, Sybill?" McGonagall asked sarcastically. Anna and Hermione fought smiles, even though Anna was a bit worried about Professor Lupin.

Trelawney gave McGonagall a cold look.

"Certainly I knew, Minerva. But one does not parade the fact that one is All-Knowing. I frequently act as thought I am not possessed of the Inner Eye, so as not to make others nervous. If you must know, Minerva, I have seen that poor Professor Lupin will not be with us for very long. He seems aware, himself, that his time is short. He positively fled when I offered to crystal gaze for him-"

"Imagine that." McGonagall countered dryly.

As Dumbledore intervened in their conversation, Anna pondered Trelawney's words. Usually, she thought the woman was completely batty, but ever since Anna came to Hogwarts not a single Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher lasted longer then a year. Maybe, for whatever reason, Lupin would be no different.

Anna remained distracted through the rest of the meal, having a few brief conversations with Hermione and a couple others. By the time the meal was over, Anna was among only a few left at the table. Looking around at the leftovers, she figured there was enough food left at the table to make a couple decent-sized meals.

A thought popped into Anna's head and she grabbed a nearby, clean plate off the table. She scooped a portion of nearly everything that was left until the plate was decently full. Then, she left the Great Hall and followed the corridor toward Lupin's chambers.

She reached the door and shifted the plate into one hand. She'd just lifted her free hand to knock when-

"What do you think you're doing?" a familiar, drawling voice asked.

Turning around, Anna found herself looking up at Professor Snape, who was looking down his large, hooked nose at her.

"Oh, um…I was just going to give Professor Lupin some food from the feast." Anna answered hesitantly.

"The house elves have already delivered some food to him." Snape drawled as if she were stupid.

"Oh. I didn't know that. I just thought-"

"I know you think Professor Lupin is…your friend, so to speak. But it may be in your best interest not to spend much time alone with him. He may not be the person you think he is." Snape stated cryptically. Before Anna could ponder his words, he continued, "Now, I suggest you get to your dormitory before I give you a detention for loitering."

Anna forced herself not to glare at him as she turned and continued down the corridor in the direction of the portrait hole. She left the plate on the table, telling Ron he could have the leftovers if he wanted, and continued up to her dormitory.

She changed into her pajamas, and Ariel flew in through the window and perched on her trunk. She didn't have any mail, it seemed she just wanted to visit Anna instead of the owlry.

Anna pulled her knees up and sat on her stone window sill. She leaned her head against the window and looked out into the snow. Ariel fluttered over and landed on Anna's knee. Anna scratched her cheek distractedly as her mind wandered.

The clouds shifted outside, the weather clearing up and revealing the clear, dark sky above, the big, full moon lighting up snow below.


	8. Dogs, Cats, and Rats

On the morning of New Year's Eve, Annabelle followed the snowy path down to Hagrid's hut as she'd been doing most days. With most of her friends gone and teachers watching her like hawks in the castle, she was going stir crazy inside. She felt like Hagrid's was one of the few places she could relax without being completely alone.

As she did every time she arrived at Hagrid's in the past week, Anna briefly knocked on the door before letting herself in, as was Hagrid's request.

She was surprised this time, however, to see Hagrid wasn't the only person in the hut.

Fang bounded up to Anna and jumped on her as he always did, but Anna's eyes remained fixed on Hermione Granger even as the huge boarhound nearly knocked her over.

"Hi, Hermione. What brings you here?" Anna asked curiously.

Hermione shrugged, looking unusually dejected as she sat at Hagrid's table surrounded by papers and books. "I was just doing some more research for Buckbeak's case."

At his name, Buckbeak screeched grouchily at being ignored. Anna quickly pushed Fang off her, giving him a brief scratch behind the ears before approaching the hippogriff in the corner. She gave him a hug around the neck, scratching around his chin and jaw before turning to look at Hagrid and Hermione.

As she looked at the younger girl, it came to her attention she hadn't seen her much in the last few days. In fact, since Christmas she frequently saw Harry and Ron, but Hermione was almost never around. And whenever she did see Hermione, she always looked rather sad.

"Hermione?" she asked hesitantly, taking off her bag and cloak as she approached the table where Hermione and Hagrid were both sitting, "Are you okay?"

To her shock and dismay, Hermione's brown eyes filled with tears. Hagrid reached his humongous hand over and gently patted her on the back.

"Well,…you know how Harry got that broom for Christmas?" Hermione sniffled, looking up at Anna with wet eyes. Anna nodded as she sat down next to her. "There wasn't a card or anything. I just thought…it sounded suspicious. Sirius Black could've sent it to him and jinxed it or something." Anna nodded again, forcing herself not to flinch, "So, I told Professor McGonagall, and…she confiscated it to check it over for jinxes."

Anna instantly understood. If there was one thing she knew about those boys, mostly due to the time she spent with the twins, it was their obsession with Quidditch and brooms.

"So, Ron and Harry are mad at you." she guessed.

Hermione nodded, quickly wiping away a tear that managed to trail down her cheek. "They haven't spoken to me since. And whenever I'm in the same room, Ron says something, just an offhand comment, to make me feel even worse." she admitted in a weak voice that was obviously thick with tears.

Anna reached out and rested her hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. Take it from someone who's also best friends with a pair of boys. They can be idiots." Hermione gave her a small smile. "I know you were only doing what you thought was best to protect your friend. And soon enough, Harry will realize that, too. I would've done the same thing."

"Thanks, Anna. I really appreciate that." Hermione told her with a slightly bigger smile than before.

"No problem. So, what have you found so far with the case? Anything I could do to help?"

XXX

Anna and Hermione spent nearly the whole day at Hagrid's, even when the half-giant had to leave for a couple hours to do gamekeeper duties. They worked through lunch, completely forgetting they needed to eat, until around dinner time when Hagrid offered to walk them up to the castle for dinner.

They ate together on the opposite side of the table from Ron and Harry. They talked about anything and everything. Anna found that they connected over their lack of girl friends. Sure, Anna was close with Katie, and she hung out with Angelina and Alicia, but she always felt more at ease hanging out with Fred and George; while Hermione didn't really hang out with any other girls.

After dinner, they went their separate ways for the evening with promises to eat breakfast together the next morning and head back down to Hagrid's. Anna wasn't sure where Hermione headed off to, but since it was New Years Anna decided to make use of the few fireworks she had left.

So, she headed up to the Astronomy Tower, being careful not to be seen. She waited for about ten minutes before midnight struck and she lit the fireworks. The sky erupted with bright, flashing colors and loud booms. She watched for a few seconds before bolting back down the stairs and racing away from the 'scene of the crime' as fast as possible.

She didn't stop running until she was in a familiar corridor that would eventually lead her to the common room.

"Having fun?"

Anna spun around to find Professor Lupin looking out at her from his office. He looked rather tired and worn, but amused.

"Uh, well, not really." Anna laughed nervously. "Just heading back to my dormitory. It's late. Bedtime. You know."

"Uh huh." Lupin nodded, smiling knowingly. "And that has nothing to do with the fireworks that were just released from the Astronomy Tower and Filch cursing under his breath?"

"Hm. Nope. No idea what you're talking about." she answered innocently.

Lupin chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. "Well, it's late. You should probably at least move your celebrations to your common room."

He made to turn back into his office, but Anna stopped him.

"Um, Professor?" When Lupin stopped and turned back to her, she continued, "I…well, I had a weird question I was wondering if you could answer."

"If I can, of course." Lupin turned back to face her, looking both curious and worried.

Anna looked down and swallowed. She'd been thinking of asking Lupin this question since she got that old Christmas photo. He had been in the photo, so surely he would know about the dog.

"Does the name… _Padfoot_ mean anything to you?" she asked slowly, looking up at him nervously.

Lupin's face went surprisingly pale as he stared at her. He looked as if he'd seen a ghost. Well, a bad ghost.

"Where did you hear that name?" he asked quietly instead.

"I'm…not sure. I just feel like I remember it. I think it's a really old memory, it's really fuzzy." Anna admitted.

Lupin took a deep breath, slowly nodding his head. "Well,…you see, our group of friends,…we all had our own nicknames that we gave each other. Padfoot was Sirius's nickname."

Of all the answers, that was not what Anna had been expecting. She'd been so sure Padfoot would've been the name of some pet or stray dog they'd had when she was little. That the black dog in the photo was Padfoot.

"Padfoot…was my dad?" Anna repeated quietly, her mind racing. Questions and thoughts were flying through her mind so fast she didn't know what to ask next.

"Yes." Lupin nodded.

"There…there were four of you." Anna mumbled, "What were your other nicknames?"

Lupin seemed hesitant to answer. "Well,…they called me Moony. Our other friends were Prongs…and Wormtail." he answered quietly.

That confirmed the thought that had been niggling at Anna's mind for the last minute. Padfoot, Moony, Prongs, and Wormtail. There was no way more than one quartet would have those same nicknames. Her father and his friends were the Marauders.

"Where did you guys get those nicknames?" Anna asked, trying to sound normal, "I mean,…they're a tad interesting."

Lupin smiled, but it looked forced and awkward. "It's a bit of an…inside joke."

Anna nodded slowly. "Oh, okay…Like,…perverted inside joke?" she asked teasingly, trying to break the tension. She'd heard enough stories, both from her mum in the past, and from Lupin over the last weeks, to know her dad was a bit of a… _ladies' man_ before he settled down with her mum.

Lupin actually laughed, seeming more at ease. "No, no not really. But,…well, I doubt your mum would want me to tell it to you."

Anna nodded in understanding. "Okay. Well, thank you anyway. I'll go to bed now. Have a good night, Professor Lupin."

"Have a good night,…Belle."

A small, genuine smile spread over Anna's lips at the nickname as she walked away. However, as she turned the corner into another corridor her smile fell. Just in the last few minutes she'd found out more information than she could've imagined, and yet it left her confused, as well.

For one, her dad and his friends, including Professor Lupin, were the Marauders. They'd created the Marauders Map, which had several secret passages into the castle that even Dumbledore probably didn't know about. So, that was probably how her dad got inside the castle.

But then what was with the big, black dog in the photo? And why did her mind want to link the name 'Padfoot' to it if that was her dad's nickname?

And worst of all, was this information doing more to prove her dad innocent…or guilty?

XXX

"Fredrick Gideon Weasley!" Anna hissed under her breath, standing up to try and reach Fred's hand that he was keeping out of her reach. "That's my last quill! Give it back!"

Fred laughed, using his free arm to keep her away from him as he remained in his seat next to her. "Hey, Georgie. Catch." he called, tossing the quill to George sitting in front of him, who caught it.

Anna growled, standing up from her desk and moving toward George, who quickly sat on the quill. "George!" she shouted, shoving at his shoulder to try and get him off her only remaining writing utensil. Angelina, who was sitting with Alicia at the next table over, reached across the isle to grab the sleeve of George's school robes. She yanked on it and George nearly tumbled off his chair. Anna managed to snatch the quill off his seat when his butt tilted off the chair.

"Ha!" she laughed in his face, reaching over to give Angelina a high-five. When she returned to her seat, she stuck her tongue out at Fred, who smirked in amusement.

When Anna turned to put her quill back in her bag, she caught sight of a pair of bright yellow eyes surrounded by dark silver tabby markings.

The silver tabby cat, who was sitting on the teacher's desk for who knows how long, leapt into the air and promptly changed into the always-stern Professor McGonagall.

"Mr. Weasleys, should I take points from Gryffindor for stealing another student's property?" she asked sternly, looking between the twins.

"That won't be necessary, Professor." Fred beamed, tossing his arm over Anna's shoulder playfully and tugging her into his side. "We were just playing around. And Anna's got her property back. Everything's just fine, isn't it, Anna?"

"Hm. Oh, yeah, it's fine, Professor." Anna answered, jerking back out of her thoughts. But once McGonagall started the lesson for the day, Anna's thoughts drifted.

McGonagall was an Animagus. Of course, Anna had known that from her very first Transfiguration lesson. She'd known about Animagi since their lesson on them in third year. Why was that information suddenly catching Anna's attention?

Because her memory wants to call a black dog in a photo 'Padfoot', while Professor Lupin says Padfoot is her dad. Why would they both have the same name? That was a question that had bugged her for the past week since New Years when she wasn't studying or at Hagrid's helping Hermione with the case and visiting Buckbeak.

It was completely crazy, and Anna was half tempted to smack herself for even considering the insanity of it. But what if her father, Sirius Black, 'Padfoot' of the Marauders, was an Animagus?

The thought continued on a loop for her entire hour-long lesson. It was a miracle McGonagall didn't call on her or have them do any practical work. As soon as McGonagall dismissed the class, Anna packed up the few items she'd gotten out of her bag and hurried down the corridor ahead of everyone else in the class. She figured she was ahead enough to skip Herbology for a day.

She went from the ground floor up to the first floor to the library. She gave Madam Pince a short smile when she entered, hoping the old woman wouldn't know she was supposed to be in class.

After searching for about five minutes, she managed to find the row that had books on Animagi. She scanned the spines of the books until she found about five that sounded promising. Grabbing them off the shelves and piling them in her arms, she found an empty table in a corner to sit at. She plopped her bag down on the floor next to the table, then spread the books out across the surface before sitting down.

Grabbing the nearest book, she flipped it open and began skimming for some useful information. She pulled out one of her journals, inkwell, and quill to jot down useful notes she found, just in case.

 _'…An Animagus is a witch or wizard who can morph him or herself into an animal at will. Unlike a Metamorphmagus, it is a learned skill rather than hereditary…'_

 _'…the process of becoming Animagi is long, difficult, and can go dangerously wrong…'_

 _'…most witches and wizards find their time can be used in other ways, so it is a rare skill…'_

 _'…Animagi can only become one specific animal…determined by their personality and inner traits…'_

 _'…each Animagus bears identifying marks caused by something on their human body. This could be something as common as glasses, scars, or any other identifiable trait…'_

 _'…While Transfiguration requires a wand and a spell, Animagi can change without a wand and incantation…'_

 _'…Animagi still think as humans do…'_

 _'…can communicate with normal animals…'_

 _'…required to register in the Ministry of Magic…penalty for failing to do so is a sentence to Azkaban…'_

After writing all of those notes down, Anna closed that book and shoved it across the table before grabbing the next nearest book. She didn't find much new information, so she pushed that one aside, too, and grabbed another one. This one only had a brief chapter on Animagi, but it also included a list of registered Animagi. Anna skimmed the list quickly to see if her father was registered, but the only name she personally recognized was Minerva McGonagall. Her father and none of the other Marauders were on the registry. But when she thought about it, that didn't necessarily rule out the possibility, because they may not have registered, despite the consequences.

Turning back to her journal, Anna jotted down a quick note, _'not registered?'_

Closing yet another book, Anna pushed it away and turned to another. This one was all about possible Animagus forms. Every animal that has been or could be an Animagus form.

Anna rapidly flipped through the book for a few seconds before turning to her journal to write something down before she started reading the book in depth.

 _Moony; Lupin;_

 _Wormtail;_

 _Padfoot; Sirius; black dog?_

 _Prongs;_

She started in the beginning of the book with the first animal classification; Amphibians. She'd noted that her dad's nickname, Padfoot, made sense if he was a dog Animagus, as dogs have padded feet. So, if that was where he got his nickname, it would make sense if the other's nicknames fit their Animagus form, as well.

Assuming this theory wasn't completely barmy.

So, as she flipped through all the different animals and skimmed the information that was written about them, she tried to see if there were any kinds of connections between the animals and any of the Marauders' nicknames.

A little over an hour later, Anna's eyes and brain were hurting from all the reading and thinking. In the corner of the page, she'd jotted down a few Amphibians; some kind of toad and a few salamanders, that may have some tiny connection to the names, but they were mostly stretching it. She'd also wrote a note stating Pettigrew was the real Secret Keeper, since she remembered that and it was important information. Seeing that she needed to get to her Care of Magical Creatures class, Anna decided to give the search a rest for the day.

She packed up her things and dropped most of her books off at Madam Pince's desk, asking to check out the book of possible Animagus forms. Seeing as she only had about ten minutes before her class started, she headed straight for Hagrid's hut.

XXX

"What happened to you?" Fred demanded about an hour later when Anna joined them at the Gryffindor table for dinner. "You practically bolted after Transfiguration and didn't show up for Herbology. I mean, I know Chinese Chomping Cabbages isn't the most fun subject, but a little heads up to your best friends would be nice."

Anna rolled her eyes but gave the twins an apologetic smile. "I know, I'm sorry. I was in the library." she answered slowly, trying to buy time to think of an excuse. "I had Care of Magical Creatures right after and completely forgot to do an assignment. What better time to get it done than a two hour Herbology lesson? It's not like I missed much, right? Any notes I need to copy from you two?" she asked, looking between the twins.

They both scoffed. "Us? Take notes?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Anna laughed.

XXX

Slytherin barely beat Ravenclaw in the middle of January. This put Gryffindor in 2nd place if they could beat Ravenclaw. Because of this sliver of hope, Wood increased practices to five times a week. For all the fifth years on the team studying for OWLs, it was a lot of work. For Anna it was even worse. She was dividing her time between practices, studying for her OWLs, hanging out at Hagrid's to help Hermione with research for Buckbeak's case, and squeezing in time to read that book on Animagus forms. Combine all that with an average of spending four hours a day in classes and eating meals, that left about nine hours to herself, at least three of which she needed to spend with Fred and George or risk them getting suspicious. So, Anna got about five hours of sleep a night, six if she was lucky enough to fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

By the time the last week of January came and went, Anna had gone through Amphibians, Arthropods, and Birds in the Animagus book. She kind of thought those three were a waste of time, but she didn't want to risk skipping over the one animal one of the Marauders could be. She'd jotted down a few more possibilities, but she still hadn't found any that stuck out as an _actual_ possibility. She doubted Wormtail, whomever he may be, was a millipede; or that Prongs was a crab, earwig, or ostrich, which she only wrote down because it was the only bird with two toes. The only thing she'd found so far for Moony was an owl, though that was still pushing it. She hoped once she got to the actual animals in the book some real prospects would appear.

Anna sat down next to Angelina on a log as they waited for Hagrid to leave his hut for Care of Magical Creatures. It wasn't long before he came out, his expression the same dreary, depressed look as it always seemed to be these days.

When he had everyone's attention, Hagrid clapped his hands and cleared his throat.

"Well, today we're goin' to learn 'bout Kneazles. Open yer books to 126."

Anna dug in her bag until she found her 'Monster book', as the twins called it. As usual, it tried to take her hand off, but she quickly ran her fingers down it's spine. It shivered and fell open in her lap so she could flip to the requested page number. The word 'Kneazle' was at the top center of the page. The picture right under it was of three large cat-like creatures. They all had large ears and a lightly plumed tail, like a lion. One of them was tabby, one had speckled fur, and one was a smooth ginger.

"Now, I want yeh to read the section on Kneazles and write notes. Next class, I'll be bringing one to class for yeh to meet an' study."

Anna opened her journal she kept for this class to a new page, labeled it 'Kneazles' and began reading from the book.

 _'A Kneazle is a magical creature of the feline classification, similar to a domestic cat. They have large ears and a lightly plumed tail that resembles that of a lion. They can come in different breeds, like cats, and therefore can vary in appearance. They make good pets, but only if they like that witch or wizard. They have a very high level of intelligence, are independent, can occasionally become aggressive, and have the ability to detect suspicious or distrustful people. Due to their intelligence and loyalty to those they trust, they have the ability to guide their owners home._

 _Due to their aggression towards certain individuals, Kneazles have a XXX classification by the Ministry of Magic, which means competent wizards could handle the creature with little or no problems. However, this is only the case if the Kneazle is not interbred with another species. They can be interbred with normal cats, and tend to have up to eight kittens in a litter. Kneazle owners are required to have a license to own the animals, and some make a living by breeding Kneazles or part-Kneazles._

 _Kneazle whiskers can be used as wand cores, though they are said to make inferior wands compared to Unicorn hair, Phoenix feathers, and Dragon heartstrings.'_

Anna made a bullet list in her journal of several bits of information, trying to ignore the niggling in the back of her mind. When she read the whole piece and wrote out anything she thought important, she sat back and allowed herself to think. It wasn't as difficult to capture this thought as it was in regards to her father.

She kept thinking of Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. Spending so much time with Hermione as they worked on Buckbeak's case, she'd also been around Crookshanks a bit, as well. She couldn't help seeing the connections to the Kneazles in this book and the scarily-intelligent, mildly aggressive cat Hermione had bought. He was probably a half-Kneazle. It would certainly explain a few things.

XXX

Later that evening, Anna was curled up in the common room, working on her homework. The day before, Snape had taught their DADA class, and he'd taught the younger class today. It had been nagging at Anna like crazy. It seemed like Professor Lupin was sick every month.

A thought occurred to Anna as that thought circled her mind for the hundredth time. Lupin had been sick just before their first Quidditch match, and she knew he was sick on Christmas. It was always close to the same time.

Standing up, Anna plopped her things in her spot on the couch so no one could steal her spot as she quickly crossed the room to the calendar on the bulletin board. She heard a couple of her friends say her name and ask what she was doing, but she ignored them for the moment.

Looking at the current date on the calendar, she saw the little symbol saying it was the full moon. Looking back a month at December, she saw that right around Christmas was the full moon, too, as was the day before their first match. He was always sick on the full moon.

"Hm." she hummed thoughtfully. Well, that would explain his nickname, 'Moony'. She'd already gone through the fish section recently and hadn't found much, but she'd had some luck going through the Mammal section. She'd listed a stag or moose as a possibility for Prongs, though she wasn't sure who he was yet.

Suddenly, an arm flopped down over her shoulder, a chin on her opposite shoulder. "What are you doing?"

Anna jumped before sighing heavily. "Don't _do_ that, George." she scolded him, elbowing him in the gut.

George laughed as she pulled away and hung the calendar back up on the board. "What? We were curious and you weren't talking."

"I was…checking on something." she answered casually, sitting back in her spot and placing her books in her lap to continue studying. She'd have to wait until she was alone later to jot down her recent finding.

"Something in November and December?" Fred asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, it was for Astronomy." Anna answered quickly when the idea popped into her head.

"So, why didn't you just check your charts or notes?" George asked.

"Oh, leave her alone." Angelina told them, swatting George in the shoulder. "Oh, Anna, this is random question, and if it offends you, just forget I asked-"

Anna barely had time to say a hesitant "Okay." before she swept on.

"But, is it some family tradition for Blacks to name their kids after constellations or stars? I heard that somewhere."

Anna paused as she thought about that question. "Well,…since my father was disowned, I don't exactly know a lot of people on that side of my family, but…Yeah I think so. I mean,…Draco's mother, Narcissa, that's a constellation; as is Draco. My cousin Tonks' mom Andromeda is named after a constellation. My father was named after a star…I don't know many other relatives, but there is a pattern there, obviously."

"So why didn't your parents name you after a constellation?" Alicia asked curiously, glancing up from her essay.

Anna blinked, figuring the answer should've been obvious. "My father was disowned." she started slowly, "He hated his family. His childhood was apparently so horrible my mum refuses to tell me about it. He hated Christmas as a kid because it meant he had to go home and couldn't escape to Hogwarts or a friend's house. I'm guessing he wouldn't want to follow a family tradition by naming me after a constellation."

"That makes sense." Katie nodded with a smile.

"Yep, so they named you Annabelle Esme Black." Fred smirked, tossing his arm over her shoulder.

"Seriously? You have to throw in the middle name?" Anna asked in mock annoyance.

"I like your middle name." Katie told her genuinely, "It's unique, just like the rest of your name."

"Except your last name. That name has it's tentacles in nearly every wizarding family in Britain." Fred pointed out. Anna elbowed him harshly in the stomach while their friends all laughed.

"Anna!"

Anna's laugh caught in her throat at the shock of Ron Weasley hurrying over to her with Harry in tow. The younger Weasley was carrying something small and brown in his hands.

"Um,…hi, Ron." she greeted him hesitantly. She didn't talk to Ron often, so she wasn't sure what was happening.

"You're an animal person, right?" he asked frantically. "I mean, you must be an expert. Hagrid had you help with the hippogriffs our first class."

"Well,…I like animals, yeah." Anna answered, unsure about where this was going, "But I wouldn't call myself an expert, Ron. And I'm pretty sure Hagrid only asked me to help because I've known most of the hippogriffs since my first year, and I've known a few of them since they hatched."

"But still. Can you look at Scabbers? Please?" Ron begged.

Anna sighed, looking at the tiny lump of fur in Ron's hands. "Oh, alright, fine. But don't get mad at me if I really don't know what's wrong with him." she warned him before taking the small rat in both her hands. The tiny animal squirmed a bit in her hands until she gently stroked his head and back with her finger. He relaxed a bit, but remained mildly tense. While still holding him close, she looked him over. He was surprisingly thin, she could feel his tiny bones under her fingers. He also appeared to be going bald, his fur thin with clumps missing.

"Do you know when he started to look like this?" she asked Ron, still looking the little rat over.

"Yeah. When Hermione got that bloody cat of hers." Ron spat viciously.

"That's not true, Ron." George cut in before Anna could comment.

"Yeah, it started when we were in Egypt. You said so yourself." Fred added.

Anna glanced up to see Ron glaring at the twins. "Well, Egypt is a far cry from Hogwarts or the Burrow, Ron. Maybe the weather or the food or something just didn't agree with him."

"But he eats practically everything." Ron argued, "He's had no problems eating sweets and other foods."

"How old is he, again? He used to be Percy's, right?" Anna asked instead.

"Yeah. We've had him for twelve years." Ron answered.

Anna's head snapped back up to stare at Ron in shock. "Twelve years? You've owned the same pet rat for _twelve years_?" she asked incredulously, glancing at the twins for confirmation.

"Why's that so bad?" Ron asked defensively.

"It's not, by any means." Anna quickly answered, "But most garden rats live three years at most. Are you sure your parents didn't get you a couple new 'Scabbers' over the years so you wouldn't be sad?" she asked hesitantly. The twins both snorted.

"No, they didn't. We take good care of him." Ron argued defensively again. Anna kept her thoughts to herself, since most wouldn't consider feeding a rat sweets and junk food 'good care'. Instead, she turned to look back down at the rat again. She lifted him up a bit so he was eyelevel, one hand under his belly with her thumb on one side and other fingers on the other. His front paws moved to rest on her knuckles and Anna got a good look at them both. His right paw looked to be missing a claw.

"Has he always been missing a claw here?" Anna asked curiously, lightly touching Scabber's tiny paws with her index finger.

"Yeah, he was like that when we got him. Probably got in a fight with another rat." Ron answered easily.

Anna nodded thoughtfully, still looking Scabbers over. His long tail flipped around and draped itself over her wrist. Her eyes landed on it and she stared distractedly for a moment. Staring at the tail, her mind flew to the Marauders. That tail looked a lot like a worm.

"Wormtail." the name barely left her lips on a breath. Scabbers tensed in her hands before he began thrashing in an attempt to escape. She nearly dropped him but managed to keep a hold on him even as he tried to reach around and bite her.

"What? What's wrong? What did you say?" Ron asked worriedly, taking the rat from her hands.

"Oh, um…I didn't really say anything. Anyway, Ron, I honestly think he's just old. It's not exactly normal for a rat to live that long." she told him, trying to think of an excuse to leave. "Anyway, I just remembered I've got to do something up in my dormitory. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help, Ron. I'll see you guys later." she told all of them, gathering her books and trying not to run up the stairs to her dormitory. She dropped her things haphazardly on her bed, ignoring a thump as one of her books fell to the floor, and grabbed her Animagi book off her bedside table.

Flipping the book open to the Mammals section, she kept flipping until she found the 'rat' page. Deciding it was the most likely possibility, she grabbed her journal and quill before flipping the journal open to the page with the Marauders names on it.

Next to _'Wormtail;'_ she left a space for when she eventually found out who Wormtail was, and wrote _'rat'_ next to it.

XXX

January faded into February and the weather turned nicer, which made the constant Quidditch practices more bearable. Of course, Wood was also constantly worrying that McGonagall wouldn't return Harry's Firebolt to him in time for their match against Ravenclaw. While the rest of the team worried about this, as well, Anna simply couldn't bring herself to. She was more worried about the fact that Hermione had cried on her shoulder about half the number of times they were in the same room, all because Harry and Ron were still ignoring her because of that stupid broom.

One Thursday morning, Anna sat at the breakfast table with her friends to eat some eggs.

"Did you guys hear?" Alicia demanded shoving the day's copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in Angelina's face.

"What?" Lee, Fred, and George asked curiously, pausing in their eating.

"They've officially announced that the dementors have been given permission to give Sirius Black the Dementor's Kiss when they catch him." Angelina explained as she skimmed the article Alicia had shoved at her. Anna paused, feeling horror seep into her bones.

"What's the 'Dementor's Kiss'?" Lee asked curiously.

"It's where the dementor sucks out a person's soul." Angelina answered, her eyes still glued to the article.

"They'll still be alive, but it's a punishment worse than death. He'd be like a shell of himself." Alicia added.

Anna tried to swallow the horrified lump in the back of her throat. She could feel someone watching her and peaked from the corner of her eye. Fred was staring straight at her, his expression blank as he tried to gauge her own emotions.

She could feel tears prickling her eyes, so she slowly stood up and left the table, forcing herself to walk at a casual pace out of the room. She was thinking about where to go to skip Potions and hide out for the day, when a hand gently took her wrist and another arm wrapped around her shoulders. She didn't need to look to know the twins were on either side of her.

"Guys, I just want to be alone for a bit. Please." she whispered even though she knew it was a hopeless argument.

"I'm not sure if leaving you alone to your devices is a good idea. What do you think, George?"

"I have to agree with you, Fred. She's clearly upset and shouldn't be left alone."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Guys-"

"Just tell us something here." Fred suggested, steering Anna with a tug on her hand toward a small, wooden bench near a window to sit down. Once Anna was sitting between the two, Fred turned to look at her. "We can understand you being upset. Despite everything, he's your father."

"Just tell us what's going on in your head." George asked, resting a hand on Anna's back.

Anna looked down at her feet. She wasn't sure what to say. She was at war with herself in regards to what her friends could know.

"I guess…I'm just horrified." she admitted quietly, "It just seems like a horrible punishment. I don't understand how anyone could think that's an okay punishment, no matter the crime."

She saw Fred nod his head from the corner of her eye. "Yeah, that's understandable. It's disgusting, honestly."

"We can't exactly tell you it'll be okay," George started, "because that's not necessarily true. But it will work out for the best, I'm sure."

"And no matter what happens, you know we've got your back, right?" Fred checked, ducking his head to look up into Anna's eyes. She met his brown eyes, read the sincerity in them, and gave him a small smile.

"Yeah. Thanks." she whispered, glancing between them to show she was talking to both of them.

The twins gave Anna a moment to pull herself together before they headed to Potions class.

It was a relatively normal day. After Potions, Anna had most of the day to herself. She'd already finished and returned the Animagi book, having no new information since deducing Wormtail was probably a rat. So, she did some more homework, got in a quick nap, and read ahead for her Astronomy class later that night all before dinner.

That evening, Anna was sitting with the twins in the common room when Harry came through the portrait hole carrying his Firebolt, Ron and Neville behind him. The twins and several others stood and excitedly swarmed Harry to get a good look at his new broom. Anna, however, looked over to see Hermione sitting at a table in the corner surrounded by her homework.

Getting up, Anna crossed the room and sat at the table in a chair across from Hermione.

"Hey. Whatcha working on?" she asked quietly.

"Rune translation." she answered quietly, staring determinedly down at her thick book on the table. But Anna could see her eyes flickering over to the crowd.

"Maybe you guys can make up now that Harry got his broom back." Anna commented lightly.

Hermione looked hopeful. "Yeah, maybe."

"Look, whatever happens, whatever they say to you; you did the right thing." Anna told her firmly, leaning forward with her elbows on the tabletop. "You did what you did to protect your best friend. If Harry's half the friend you deserve, he will understand that."

Hermione smiled gratefully up at Anna. "Thanks."

People passed Harry's broom around for a good ten minutes before he and Ron approached Anna and Hermione's table. Giving all three of them a smile, Anna got up to rejoin the twins at the couch. They were discussing their latest product idea, Canary Creams, which Anna had randomly suggested after thinking about Hufflepuff's canary-yellow Quidditch uniforms. The basic idea was to turn the eater of the custard cream into a giant canary.

Their discussion, however, was cut short by a strangled yell from the boys' staircase. The whole common room went quiet as they turned to watch the stairs. Ron, who Anna hadn't seen go upstairs, came running back down dragging a bed sheet for some reason.

"LOOK!" he shouted, striding up to Hermione's table. "LOOK!" He shook the sheets in her face.

"Ron, what-?"

"SCABBERS! LOOK SCABBERS!" Hermione was leaning back in her seat, looking bewildered as Ron got in her personal space. Anna thought she saw a red blur on the shaking sheets right as Ron continued. "BLOOD! HE'S GONE! AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N-no." When Hermione's voice trembled, Anna stood up and slowly approached the trio. Ron threw something down onto Hermione's rune translation just as Anna reached their side. There, sitting atop the translation, were several long, ginger cat hairs.

"YOUR BLOODY CAT KILLED SCABBERS!" Ron shouted for the whole room to hear. Hermione's face was bright red, tears glistening in her eyes as she stared down at the hairs.

"Ron-" Anna moved closer, resting her hand on Hermione's shoulder.

"OH SURE, SIDE WITH HER!" Ron bellowed, turning his own red face toward Anna. "A SUPPOSED ANIMAL LOVER! YOU JUST PREFER A HAIRY BEAST TO A SMALL RAT LIKE SCABBERS!"

With that, Ron spun on his heel and stomped back up the stairs to his dormitory. Harry looked uncertainly between where Ron disappeared and where Hermione had collapsed atop her desk, her shoulders trembling with silent tears.

"Hermione, h-he doesn't mean it." Harry told her, resting a hand on Hermione's back. "He's just upset, but he'll come around."

"No, he won't." she yelled, the words muffled with her face toward the desktop. "He hates me!"

"Hermione, that's not true." Anna leaned down and squeezed Hermione's shoulder. "Everything will work out. I mean, he's got to realize that pets die. Pets come and go, but friends, especially friends that have gone through what you three have, they last forever. He'll come around."


	9. Please believe me

The next couple days were tense, to say the least. Harry tended to stay around Ron, who refused to speak with Hermione. Because of this, Annabelle spent extra time with the younger bookworm, which wasn't too hard since they were at Hagrid's or the library a lot, doing more research for the case, or doing homework. Anna was surprised with how many classes Hermione was taking. It seemed near impossible since Anna was certain some of the classes Hermione was taking overlapped other classed she was taking.

Add all that on top of Anna's other issues, and she was extremely stressed. It got to the point she found it hard to pretend around the twins. She had so much on her mind she couldn't focus when they hung out. She couldn't put the usual effort into their pranks or products. She knew the twins noticed, and she shouldn't have been surprised when they finally called her out.

"Alright, Anna,"

"what's going on?" the twins asked, plopping down on either side of the couch where she was sitting. She jumped in shock at their sudden arrival.

"Nothing. Just doing homework." she answered vaguely.

"Hm. I somehow doubt that." Fred commented wisely.

"You're always so busy with stuff. There's no way it's always homework." George added.

"Well, I'm also helping with Buckbeak's case, remember?"

"Yeah, but there's no way all that takes as much time as it does. We barely get to hang out with you a couple hours a day, most of which you're too distracted to pay attention or talk." George commented.

"And we know something's bugging you. And has been since…when would you say this began bugging her, George?" Fred asked sarcastically, his eyes not leaving Anna's face, which left her feeling exposed.

"About the time they announced Sirius Black would be getting the Dementor's Kiss, I reckon."

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh, come off it. I thought we already talked about this. Yes, it's horrible, and he's my father. Of course the thought of it bothers me."

"But should it really bother you to the point of being so distracted and upset?" Fred asked rhetorically. "I mean, despite who he is, he murdered a bunch of people. He went to Azkaban because he was working for You-Know-Who and blasted apart a whole neighborhood."

Anna gritted her teeth, her jaw clenching and unclenching as she forced herself to keep her mouth shut.

"And it's not just you being distracted. You're also always working on something. There's no way it's always homework or Buckbeak's case." George added.

"Ever heard of a little thing called OWLs?" Anna asked sarcastically, flipping through her Potions book in an attempt to look like she was studying. "They're kind of important to our future. I just want to do good on them. My mum managed to get _10_ when she was in school."

"Your mum was also a Ravenclaw, if I remember correctly." Fred countered, "Meaning she was most likely smarter than you."

Anna stuck out her tongue at him before looking back down at her book and hoping they'd leave her alone.

She should've known better.

Fred grabbed her book off her lap and tossed it across the room.

"Fred!"

Fred turned to her, his eyes no longer light and a playful smile no longer on his face. It was the most serious she'd seen him in months.

"Anna, you're freaking us out. This isn't you. You're starting to act like you did last year after Flint hurt you, and it's scaring us. Please!" he pleaded, sounding desperate and terrified.

Anna's face fell, guilt burning in her stomach.

"I…I'm sorry." she whispered, "I don't mean to scare you. Honestly, it's nothing like that. I just…I don't want you to think badly of me." she admitted in a whisper.

"We would never think bad of you, Anna." George spoke up, resting a hand on her shoulder. "We're worried about you. Whatever this is, it's eating away at you. Let us help. Just…talk it out. Get it out of your system."

Anna looked anxiously between them, completely at war with herself. On the one hand, she desperately needed to get this information out. To tell someone and see what they thought about it. She could tell Tonks, but she didn't want to risk putting it in a letter. But on the other hand, she didn't know if she could handle it if her friends told her she was completely crazy, or worse, turned their backs on her.

"Promise you won't hate me?" she asked quietly.

"The only thing that _might_ make us hate you is if you suddenly became BFFs with Flint." Fred told her jokingly. Anna smiled, knowing he wasn't serious. He rarely was.

Looking around the common room, Anna thought there were too many people around.

"I don't want anyone else to hear." she told them.

George nodded and grabbed Anna's hand, pulling her off the couch. Fred gathered her things, and the three left the common room. They went down a couple flights of stairs and found an abandoned classroom. Fred entered the room last and locked the door behind him, putting up a Silencing Charm.

"Okay, now talk." George suggested, leaning back against a desk.

Anna hesitantly sat on another desk nearby, facing them. "Well,…for starters, whatever I say doesn't leave this room. None of it. Some of it may come off as bad, and if it turns out that way, I'll tell someone. But please, promise you won't tell anybody anything." she begged.

Fred and George exchanged a glance before nodding once in unison. "Fine."

Taking a deep breath, Anna steadied herself before she began talking again.

"I think...that my father might be innocent." she stated slowly.

You could've heard a pin drop. The twins stared silently at her for several moments before-

"You what now?" they asked simultaneously.

Anna sighed, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms. "You heard me."

"How-I mean, what-" Fred looked baffled beyond words. "How could you _possibly_ think that?"

"Would you be so quick to think _your_ dad murdered someone?" Anna shot back.

"Well, of course not, but you've met our dad. He's not a violent person." George argued.

"Look, will you just hear me out?" Anna finally snapped.

The twins' brows rose halfway up their foreheads before they lifted their hands as a sign of surrender.

"Thank you. As I was saying, my mum told me she thinks he's innocent. Obviously, I was kinda doubtful at first, but I want to believe it. And I've found a few things out that make me believe there's a chance. Granted, some of the stuff I've found could also prove him even more guilty, so I'm not sure what to think at the moment."

"Okay, so tell us what all you've found." Fred invited, sitting on a desk across from her, George sitting on the one next to his twin.

"Promise you won't tell anyone? If my father does end up being guilty, I'll be the one to tell someone what I've found, but you've got to hear me out."

"We solemnly swear." they chorused.

"Alright, well, for starters do you two even know what my father was charged with?"

"I know he blew up a street. Killed some wizard and a bunch of muggles." George mentioned.

"He was supposedly You-Know-Who's right hand man." Fred added.

"Okay, well, there's more to the story. Not very many people know the details. Well, I'm sure there's plenty of Professors here who do, but it wasn't common knowledge. My dad had three close friends in school. James Potter, Harry's dad, Peter Pettigrew, the wizard he supposedly killed, and…another wizard who shall remain nameless until another time.

"Anyway, something came up during the war, You-Know-Who was looking for the Potters. So, they needed to go into hiding. They put the Fidileus Charm on their house, and wanted to make my father their Secret Keeper. As far as everyone knows, that's what happened. Sirius was the Secret Keeper. Except that's not true."

"What do you mean? You just said he was." George asked, looking bewildered and confused so far.

"They suspected there was a traitor in their midst. So, my father suggested changing the Secret Keeper at the last minute. Only about a handful of people knew, including my mother. That's how I know. Peter Pettigrew was made the Secret Keeper. They figured no one would suspect him, everyone would've thought it was Sirius. My dad and James were best friends. They were practically brothers. My mum actually compared them to you two, they were that close."

Anna took a deep breath, almost unsure about adding this next bit. "My dad…is Harry's godfather." Fred and George's mouths fell open, their eyes going wide. "Harry already knows. I think he overheard something in Hogsmeade. He confronted me about it the first day of holiday. Anyway, James was apparently my godfather, too. That doesn't really have anything to do with this, but I figured I'd throw that in there.

"Anyway, that Halloween night, I'm not entirely sure what happened. My mum said my dad went to check on Pettigrew. Next thing she knew, she was being contacted and told that my dad was being arrested, that James, Lily, and Peter were all dead. Witnesses claim they heard Peter yell that my dad betrayed the Potters and suddenly, the neighborhood was blasted apart."

"Well, that sounds pretty cut and dry." Fred commented, "Obviously, that's what must've happened."

"But what I've been finding…I just feel like there's more to it. I've seen pictures of my dad. I've heard stories…He just isn't the kind of person who would do all that."

The twins exchanged a look that clearly showed what they thought. She was crazy. But they turned back to her.

"Well, what've you found, then?" Fred urged, leaning back with his hands planted on the desktop.

Anna took a deep breath. "Well,…I've been wanting to believe he's innocent since third year, when mum told me about him and I got to meet him again-"

"You _met_ him?!" the twins cut her off in shock.

"Oh, well, yeah, I…I asked my mum if I could meet him on Christmas our third year. So, Mum took me to Azkaban to visit. I won't get into that." she waved them off before continuing, "Anyway, I've wanted to believe it, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. But on Christmas day, just this past year, I got a strange present.

"It was an old family photo. It was faded and wrinkled, but it was obviously in our living room, and there were Christmas decorations. There was someone, again, the person I'm not going to name, standing in the background of the photo. But front and center of the picture was me, no more than a couple years old, and I was crawling over this big, shaggy black dog.

"Now, for years, ever since you guys showed me the Marauders' Map, I've never said anything, but the name 'Padfoot' always stuck out at me. I've always recognized it, but I wasn't sure where. But when I saw that photo, and I saw that dog…I'm not sure why, I think it's some old memory, but I wanted to call that dog 'Padfoot'."

"That's random." George commented lightly, looking both confused and interested, too.

"Yeah. Well, anyway, I went to the other person who was in the photo to ask him about it. I figured, if he was in the photo, maybe he'd know something. So, I asked him if the name Padfoot meant anything to him. I was expecting something along the lines of it being a pet dog or something."

"It wasn't?" Fred guessed, looking mildly surprised. Both twins looked intrigued now, leaning forward with their elbows on their knees.

"No. He said that was my dad's nickname in school." Anna answered quietly.

The twins stared at her in shock. "Are you saying…?" Fred trailed off, looking mystified.

"My dad had three close friends in school." Anna reminded them, "The person I asked, who I'm keeping anonymous, told me his own nickname was Moony."

"Your father was one of the Marauders?" George finally burst out.

"Does that mean James Potter and that Pettigrew guy were also Marauders?" Fred added excitedly.

"That's what I'm thinking, yeah." Anna nodded.

"Wait, if your dad's a Marauder, he helped make the Marauders' Map." Fred suddenly pointed out, his smile falling into a serious expression.

"Which means he knows about the secret passages into the castle." George added, also looking serious.

"You guys can't tell anyone, remember?" Anna reminded them frantically, "I told you, if he really is guilty I'll tell someone, but I really believe there's a chance he's innocent."

"Anna, those passages are probably how he got into the castle on Halloween." Fred told her seriously.

"You think I haven't thought of that?" Anna snapped, "Look, if you won't at least hear me out, then forget I-"

"No, no, no, no, wait." Fred stood up and held his hands up, stopping Anna from getting up and leaving. "We're sorry. We told you we'd hear out, and we'll keep our word. Please, just…continue."

Anna eyed them warily as she sat back down. "Just remember, my dad couldn't be the person who betrayed the Potters. He wasn't their Secret Keeper. I'm not sure what happened that night, but I know that much."

"Okay, fine. We'll keep that in mind." George nodded. "Please, continue."

Anna sighed, thinking back to remember where she'd left off. "Okay. Anyway, it bugged me why I wanted to call that dog 'Padfoot' when it was really my dad. Then, one day in Transfiguration, that day you guys stole my quill," she gave them a pointed look, earning a pair of matching smirks, "and McGonagall changed from her Animagus form to her normal self to scold you two. That's why I rushed off after class that day. It popped into my head…what if there's a chance my dad's an Animagus?"

The twins' eyes widened, but they remained silent so Anna could continue speaking.

"So, I rushed to the library to find out more about Animagi. I checked the Ministry's registry, but none of the Marauders were on it, so if they are Animagi, they aren't registered, which is illegal. Since my dad's nickname is Padfoot, and I wanted to call a dog that same name, I figured…dogs have padded feet. It would make sense to call himself Padfoot because of that. So, I've spent a few good weeks going through a book on every possible Animagus form. I'm obviously not a hundred percent on anything, but I think Prongs may be a stag or moose or something, and Wormtail could be a rat or mouse. I'm still unsure about Moony. I thought maybe he could be an owl, but then I…I figured out he's got some connection to the moon's cycle. I think that's where he got the nickname, though I'm not sure what that connection is yet."

"And you're still unsure of which of the other two is Wormtail or Prongs." George added.

"Yes." Anna nodded. "I suppose…now that I think about it, there was something in one of the books where…it said a person's Animagus form is based on their 'personality and inner traits'." she paused thoughtfully for a few moments. "If I remember Astronomy right, 'Sirius' is considered the 'Dog Star'. So, that may have had something to do with my dad being a dog. I don't know the others well enough, obviously, since two of them died when I was three. And I don't know much about the symbolism of stags or rats, assuming I'm even correct on those two. Also assuming this whole idea isn't completely insane."

"Which it is." George quickly offered, grinning to let Anna know he said it in jest.

"Well, sometimes…if you call someone a 'rat' it usually means that person is, like,…despicable…disloyal...deceitful." Fred listed thoughtfully.

Anna paused as she thought that over. "You mean,…do you think that means Wormtail…whomever he is, could be disloyal. My mum said they suspected there was a traitor among them. Do you think that's who it was?" she asked them quickly.

The twins exchanged a look.

"Well, Anna this is all still pretty crazy." Fred told her cautiously.

"But it's something, right?" she asked desperately.

Fred sighed heavily as he looked at her.

"Well," George started speaking, glancing at his twin before looking hesitantly at Anna, "Now, don't think I actually believe this, because it's extremely insane. But, assuming 'Wormtail' is a rat Animagus, it wouldn't really make sense for it to be James Potter, considering he ended up dead and all. He wouldn't have turned his own family over to You-Know-Who, only to die trying to save them."

"So, Pettigrew is most likely Wormtail?" Anna guessed quietly.

"Anna, you really need to be careful." Fred warned her. "This whole thing is crazy, if the wrong person finds out about all the stuff you've already figured out, you could very well be sent to Azkaban yourself for helping an escaped convict. Are you really willing to risk that over a hunch?"

"If there's a chance my father was sent to Azkaban, without a trial, I might add, and he's innocent? Yes, I'm willing to risk it. Because that's what family does."

Fred and George once again looked at each other for a long moment before both sighing and turning back to her.

"Alright." Fred nodded. "We still think it's completely barmy, but-"

"if you actually find something solid that could prove your father innocent, we'll back you up." George finished.

Anna smiled appreciatively at both of them.

"Thanks, guys."

XXX

Anna scribbled down one last sentence on her Charms essay before returning her quill to her inkwell and waving the parchment around to dry it before she needed to leave for Quidditch practice. It was their last team practice before their match against Ravenclaw.

"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was." Fred's comment made Anna look up to see Ron entering the common room, sulking. He looked utterly miserable. "And he's been off-color for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly-one swallow-he probably didn't feel a thing."

" _Fred!_ " Ginny cried indignantly while Anna jabbed her elbow into Fred's ribs.

"All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself." George added, leaning his elbows on the back of the couch behind Anna's head.

"He bit Goyle for us once!" Ron cried miserably, "Remember, Harry?"

"Yeah, that's true." Harry agreed.

"His finest hour." Fred was unable to keep a straight face, "Let the scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory." Anna lifted her fingers to her lips to cover her own amused smile, despite how sorry she felt about Ron's rat, "Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what's the point of moaning?"

Finally, Harry invited Ron to their practice so he could ride the Firebolt afterward, effectively cheering the redhead up.

Their practice had a bit of a delayed start, with Madam Hooch obsessing over Harry's broom. Eventually, Wood had to politely ask if Harry could have it back before they could start. Hooch sat in the stands with Ron to watch the practice.

Wood gave a brief lecture on Ravenclaw's Seeker, a fourth year girl named Cho Chang, before starting practice. It was hands down their best practice yet. Wood released the Snitch and, on the speedy Firebolt, Harry caught the Snitch within ten seconds. Inspired by the Firebolt's spectacular performance, the team performed better than they had in ages. When they landed after practice, they were all beaming.

"I think that's a first practice that Wood didn't have a single bit of criticism for." George commented as he landed next to Anna. She snickered as Wood began speaking.

"I can't see what's going to stop us tomorrow! Not unless-Harry, Anna, you've sorted out your dementor problem, haven't you?"

Anna instantly bristled, glaring at Oliver as Harry went a bit pink in the cheeks. "Yeah."

"Oliver,-" Anna started angrily.

"The dementors won't turn up again, Oliver. Dumbledore'd go ballistic." Fred stated confidently, draping his arm over Anna's shoulder comfortingly.

"Well, let's hope not." Wood agreed, not noticing Anna glaring daggers at his back. "Anyway-good work, everyone. Let's get back to the tower…turn in early-"

"I'm staying out for a bit; Ron wants a go on the Firebolt." Harry announced as Ron approached. The rest of the team headed for the locker rooms.

"Don't take Oliver seriously, Anna." George told her quietly as they walked at the back of the group.

"Yeah, you know how he is about Quidditch. He's not entirely human. He doesn't understand human emotions." Fred told her jokingly.

Anna rolled her eyes, trying not to smile at their attempt to cheer her up. Then, her nose caught a whiff of Fred's sweaty armpit, which was right next to her since his arm was still over her shoulder. His normally woodsy scent was way more pungent than normal, and it was making her nose burn.

"Ugh, you stink." she groaned playfully, trying to push Fred's arm off her.

"What? You don't like my masculine scent?" Fred joked, lifting his arm and forcing his armpit in her face. Anna screamed, laughing as she jumped away from him and raced ahead. The twins laughed and began chasing after her.

XXX

Anna woke up the morning of the match feeling better than she had in a while. Due to going to sleep early, she got a solid nine hours of sleep. She would've thought she'd be nervous about the match, considering if they lost they'd lose any chance of winning the Quidditch Cup. But considering how well Harry flew on that Firebolt, and how well the whole team did in their last practice, she felt like they had an excellent chance of winning this match.

And it wasn't against Slytherin, which immediately put Anna at ease.

Anna woke up the other girls and they headed down to breakfast. The whole team sat together at the table, laying Harry's Firebolt out on the table. Several people came over to see it. Anna, Fred, and George were most surprised to hear that Percy and his girlfriend Penelope Clearwater had a bet going over the outcome of the match.

Anna tensed, forcing herself to casually take a bite of toast when Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle approached.

"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" Malfoy sneered down at Harry as the rest of the team glared at him.

"Yeah, reckon so." Harry answered casually.

"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it? Shame it doesn't come with a parachute-in case you get too near a dementor." Crabbe and Goyle sniggered as if Malfoy just told a hilarious joke.

"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy. Then it could catch the Snitch for you." Harry responded. The whole team laughed loudly and Anna almost squirted her tea out her nose since she took a drink right as Harry spoke. Malfoy obviously didn't find the comment funny and stalked away with his goons on his tail. Anna watched as he went to the Slytherin table where their Quidditch team was sitting, probably to whisper about Harry's broom.

As Anna watched, Flint looked up and gave her the same, cruel smirk he always did when he saw her. Anna shivered violently as that expression brought back memories, jerking her head down to stare at her plate of food.

"You alright?" Anna looked up to see George looking worriedly at her. Fred was busy laughing with Angelina.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Anna nodded, forcing a smile before returning to her meal.

It seemed like time flew and suddenly, the team had already changed in the locker room, listened to Wood give a brief speech pretty much telling them to fly like they did at practice the day before, and walked out onto the field to applause. The Ravenclaw team was already there and waiting for them. Looking them over, Anna noticed that every single member was a guy except for their Seeker, Cho Chang, who was a pretty Asian girl with black hair and was a good head shorter than her whole team. Cho smiled at someone on the team and Anna looked over to see that the girl was smiling at Harry. The poor boy didn't seem to know what to think of it, his cheeks lightly pink as he returned the smile.

"Wood, Davies, shake hands." Hooch ordered, which the two Captains quickly obeyed. "Mount your brooms…on my whistle…three, two, one-"

The team quickly kicked off the ground on the whistle and Anna punched the Quaffle to Katie, who caught it and bolted down the pitch toward the Ravenclaw goal. Davies, the Captain and Chaser, tried to block Katie, but Anna flew in and slammed her shoulder into him so her teammate had a clear shot. Katie threw the Quaffle, the Keeper missed, and Katie scored the first goal of the match. She spun around and flew toward the other end of the pitch, high-fiving Anna as she passed.

Anna looked around briefly, making quick note that Cho seemed to be following Harry very closely, before she bolted after the Ravenclaw Chaser that got ahold of the Quaffle.

When the Chaser tried to score, Oliver blocked it easily, knocking the Quaffle into Angelina's hands. Ang and Anna flew back down the pitch, passing the ball back and forth a couple times to dodge the enemy Chasers before Ang took the shot and scored another goal.

A cheer went up in the crowd before it rapidly changed into a gasp. Harry was diving after the Snitch, Chang hot on his tail. He was a good ten feet away from it when a Ravenclaw Beater hit the Bludger at him. Harry narrowly missed it, but he ended up losing the Snitch. A great 'oooooh' of disappointment went up from the crowd while Ravenclaw supporters applauded.

Anna flew alongside Fred as George, who looked particularly bitter, hit the other Bludger at the Ravenclaw Beater, who had to roll over to avoid it.

"George, calm down." Anna called as she flew by him before rushing to back Katie up when two Ravenclaw Chasers tried to box her in.

Before long, Gryffindor was in the lead 80 to 0. However, Ravenclaw was soon able to score 3 goals themselves, which put Gryffindor at only a 50 point lead.

A sudden, high-pitched scream erupted in the air and Anna looked over her shoulder to see Cho pointing down on the ground. Three dementors had found their way onto the pitch below, but for some reason…Anna didn't feel affected. She didn't feel any cold or sadness, she couldn't hear Flint's voice or her own screaming.

Suddenly, an enormous, silver-white, misty shape erupted from somewhere nearby. Anna saw Harry quickly put his wand away before flying in the other direction. The silvery shape appeared to have…horns or something? It had a gallop-like gait as it floated toward the three dementors.

A sharp whistle sounded nearby and Anna felt mildly overwhelmed. She turned once again to see Harry holding up his fist, clenched around a glinting, gold ball.

The weight of what that meant hit Anna as cheers erupted from Gryffindor supporters and the rest of the team flew toward Harry at top speed. Coming to her senses, Anna bolted forward herself toward Harry and the group hug the team was in as they hovered in the air. She slammed into the team, wrapping an arm around Katie and nearly knocking George off his broom.

Wood was shouting over and over, "That's my boy!"

Katie and Angelina leaned forward and kissed Harry on the cheek.

Fred looked like he was practically strangling Harry with his arm wrapped around the Seeker's neck.

They all haphazardly floated to the ground, still hugging each other. It was a miracle no one fell off, honestly. There was a wave of Gryffindor supporters that was pouring onto the field, engulfing them enthusiastically.

Anna was suddenly swept up in a pair of arms, her own wrapping around the person's neck to hold on. She felt the person kiss Anna's cheek before her feet touched the ground again and she looked up at Fred. They were both beaming, a thin sheen of sweat on their skin.

Anna remembered the dementors when McGonagall's shrill voice reached her ears. Glancing at Fred once more, she hurried through the crowd to where she remembered the dementors being. When she finally pushed her way through the last few people, she paused at the sight she found.

Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Flint were laying in a crumpled heap on the ground in black cloaks. Malfoy had apparently been on Goyle's shoulders, and they were all now struggling to get to their feet while being tangled in the cloaks. McGonagall was _furious_.

"An unworthy trick! A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!"

Anna didn't hide the fact that she was laughing hysterically. Heck, she wasn't the only one. Several people around her were doubled over in laughter, including Ron, Harry, and Fred. Even when Flint looked up and glared murderously right at Anna, she didn't stop laughing. It was impossible to take him seriously in that moment, tangled down in black robes and unable to stand up.

"Come on, Harry!" George fought his way through the crowd and threw an arm each around Anna and Fred. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"

"Right." Harry was beaming as the team headed toward the castle.

XXX

Anna and the twins made a quick trip to the kitchens to fill a bag with bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several different kinds of sweets. They returned to the common room to find the party in full swing. It went all day and well into the night.

Anna laughed with Katie, both drinking a butterbeer as they all watched Fred and George pull some crazy dance moves on the common room table. George suddenly came over, took Katie's butterbeer, placed it on the table, and grabbed her hand to yank her up. He then preceded to spin her around, making her laugh hysterically.

Anna took another sip from her own bottle, her eyes scanning the crowded, joyful common room. Her eyes moved to a table in the corner where she found the one person who wasn't celebrating.

Hermione Granger was sitting in her usual corner, reading a huge book titled _Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles_. Biting her lip, Anna stood up and approached the younger girl, sitting down in the chair next to her.

"Having fun?" Anna asked lightly.

Hermione didn't even look up from her book. "Mhm, yeah." she mumbled.

"Hermione, why don't you put that book down and have something to eat?" Anna suggested quietly. She really wasn't one to talk, given how much work she'd been doing this term, but at least she was taking this day to celebrate with her team and friends.

"I can't, Anna! I've got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" Hermione told her, still not looking up from the book.

Anna sighed before pulling a chocolate bar from her pocket and sliding it across the table. "At least nibble on this while you read. It may not be the healthiest thing to eat, but you've got to eat something today."

Hermione finally peaked over at her from the corner of her eye. She gave her a small, appreciative smile. "Thanks. I will. You can go hang out with your other friends, really, I'm fine." she told her.

Anna eyed her for a moment. "Well,…alright, fine. I know how you are with your homework, so I won't stop you from working on it. But I'll check up on you, and if I think you need a break, I will intervene. Heck, I'll get the twins to help me." she warned.

Hermione cracked a smile. "Alright, thanks."

Anna wrapped her arm around her in a quick side hug before standing up and heading back toward her friends. Fred and George were juggling empty butterbeer bottles, surrounded by a small crowd of laughing admirers. She moved in next to Alicia and clapped with everyone else, her own bottle still in her hand as she watched.

After the twins dropped all their bottles and shattered them on the floor, the crowd moved around the room to hang out with their friends. Anna sat on the couch, turning to sit sideways and rest her feet on Fred's lap. They were all talking excitedly and had moved onto the subject of the Quidditch World Cup, which was taking place the coming summer.

Suddenly, in a rather loud voice nearby, Ron stated, "If Scabbers hadn't just been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really like them-"

Hearing an all-too familiar sound, Anna turned and looked over the back of the couch to see Hermione had burst into tears. Harry was sitting at the table next to her. Hermione slammed her book shut and raced up the stairs with her book under her arm.

Anna was half-tempted to go over and smack Ron, but she settled for glaring into the back of his head. She also turned to look at Fred to say, "Your brother is a jerk."

It was a good twenty minutes before she was relaxed and back to talking with her friends. However, around midnight she could feel herself drifting off, her eyelids becoming heavy and her cheek resting in her palm. She thought she vaguely heard McGonagall tell everyone to go to bed, but she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she was tired, and everything faded away into black.

XXX

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Anna jumped and sat bolt upright, looking around wildly. She was confused about why she was in the common room on the couch, a blanket around her waist. The room was lit by the glow of the dying fire, debris from the party littering the floor.

A low pounding of footsteps on the boys' stairs drew her eyes in that direction while voices erupted from the different dormitories.

Still half-asleep, she wasn't sure who she was expecting to see. But it certainly wasn't who appeared at the foot of the stairs.

Sirius Black, her father, froze when his eyes landed on her. Anna was suddenly wide awake, her eyes fixed on him in shock. He looked the same as he did the last time she saw him in Azkaban, black hair long and matted, skin pale and waxy as it stretched over his cheek bones. But he had a knife in his hand.

Sirius's gray eyes softened as he stared into Anna's. He barely whispered her name and Anna felt her eyes burn with tears.

A sudden pounding of dozens of feet jerked them out of their trance. Sirius gave Anna one more look before whispering frantically as he hurried for the portrait hole, "I'm innocent. Please, believe me."

Anna's mouth was hanging open as she stared at the portrait hole. Just as it swung closed the common room began filling with people.

"Are you _sure_ you weren't dreaming, Ron?"

"I'm telling you, I saw him!"

"What's all the noise?"

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"

Girls and boys all came down the stairs, some yawning and pulling on their dressing gowns.

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" Fred asked brightly as he and George appeared in their pajamas. Their matching grins faltered a bit when their eyes landed on Anna, who looked very much lost and bewildered. They both approached the couch where she was sitting as Percy hurried down the stairs.

"Everyone back upstairs!" he demanded, pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas.

"Perce-Sirius Black!" Ron announced faintly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

Several people's mouths fell open and the twins looked at each other before looking down at Anna.

"Nonsense!" Percy looked startled. "You had too much to eat, Ron-had a nightmare-"

"I'm telling you-"

"Now, really, enough's enough!" McGonagall slammed the portrait door behind her. "I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" Percy insisted, puffing him self up indignantly.

While this conversation was happening, Anna slowly moved her feet over the side of the couch and tried to stand up. She swayed a bit and Fred's arm shot out to wrap around her waist. He pulled her into his side, him and George both looking worriedly down at her. She was silently pondering what to do, her thoughts scrambling to keep up with everything.

"I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare-"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE! PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

McGonagall stared at him for a moment. "Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" Ron pointed a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw-"

McGonagall looked suspiciously at Ron before pushing the portrait open and going outside. The whole common room waited with baited breath. Anna silently stepped away from Fred's hold, wrapping her arms around her stomach nervously.

"Sir Cadogen, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"

"Certainly, good lady!"

A stunned silence followed. "You-you _did_? But- but the password!"

"He had 'em!" Cadogan said proudly, "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read em' off a little piece of paper!"

McGonagall climbed back through portrait hole, her face white as chalk. "Which person," she whispered, voice shaking, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

It was silent for a moment before Dean Thomas spoke up.

"She was down here before we were, wide awake on the couch." he announced, pointing at Anna. Instantly, all eyes were on her. It was silent for a few moments before whispers erupted.

"She's Sirius Black's daughter."

"She probably helped him!"

"She gave him the passwords."

Anna stared around the room, panic building deep inside her as she took in all the people staring and pointing at her.

"No, I-I would never-"

Suddenly, a small squeak sounded nearby and Neville Longbottom stepped forward, trembling from head to toe as he slowly raised his hand in the air.

"I-It was me, Professor. I lost my paper with the passwords on it."

"Honestly, Longbottom!" McGonagall was nearly red in the face. "Your incompetence will be the death of someone!" Turning to the rest of the room, she added, "Not one person leaves this room. I will be informing the headmaster."

With that, McGonagall spun on her heel and stormed from the room. No one moved or spoke for a few moments before gathering in little groups and whispering among themselves.

Anna remained in her same spot, her arms wrapped around her stomach as she tried to think. She couldn't seem to focus. She wasn't sure what to think. Her mind was just blank.

"Still think he's innocent?"

Anna jumped, turning to look up at Fred and George. They were both looking at her coldly, Fred looking downright pissed.

"What?" she breathed, having not quite registered what he said.

"Do you still want to insist he's innocent?" George repeated, glaring at her.

Anna slightly shook her head to clear it. "I, well, um-"

"Seriously, Anna!" George hissed, stepping closer so he was in her face and no one would hear them. "All the evidence points to him. Your crazy theory is fiction. There's no way it could've happened. Apart from the part that he may have designed the Marauders' Map, in which case you need to tell McGonagall or Dumbledore. If you don't, that makes you an accomplice. What everyone was just saying-that's not too farfetched. You're basically helping him into the castle!"

Anna stared up at him, completely shocked he was acting like this. "I…But I didn't help him. I didn't give him the passwords. I…You don't understand."

"Oh, we understand." Fred cut in. "You grew up being alone a lot. Just you and your mum, who was always at work. You grew up being scared, and seeing everyone around you with a big, happy family. So you think if you help your father get what he wants, you'll get what you never had."

Anna's eyes stung, her lips parted as pain lashed at her chest. "That's not true." she whispered in a pained voice. "I really think…I mean, he said-"

"He was just standing over our brother's bed with a knife in his hand." George reminded her. "He could've stabbed Ron, or anyone in that room. He could've stabbed _you_ as he was fleeing. And you still want to side with him?"

Anna couldn't think of anything to say. But even if she did, they didn't give her a chance to say it. They turned away from her and crossed the room to their other friends, leaving her standing in the middle of the common room, alone.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, Anna approached the girls' staircase and sat on the bottom step, since no one else was leaving the common room. Everyone wanted to know if they found Sirius Black.

Anna finally managed to force her thoughts to get organized.

On the one hand, her father had broken into the boys' dormitory with a knife and stood over Ron's bed with it, as if he planned on stabbing him. That wasn't exactly the act of an innocent person.

On the other hand, if he had the same mindset he _supposedly_ had thirteen years ago, he would've just stabbed Harry and been done with it, or even stabbed all the boys in that room. So, why would he run as soon as Ron screamed?

And then there was what he said as he was running.

 _'I'm innocent. Please believe me.'_

He claimed he was innocent, just as he did two years ago when she visited him in Azkaban. He'd also claimed, way back then, that it was impossible to prove him innocent because the only person who could couldn't be found. And that what happened that night was so crazy he wouldn't believe it if he didn't see it.

Well, the information she'd been finding so far was leading up to an insane theory, so he was right about that. It was nearly driving her insane. So, maybe she was on the right track.

She couldn't give up, not if she could do something… _anything_ , to prove her dad was innocent.


	10. Answers

McGonagall returned around dawn to tell them Sirius Black had escaped once again, and Annabelle had to work to keep the relief off her face.

Signs of tighter security were evident all across the castle as soon as they left their common rooms that morning. Sir Cadogan had been fired and the Fat Lady, who'd been restored, had returned on the condition she be protected. This is why there were now a bunch of security trolls pacing the corridor in front of her.

Aside from that, Filch was boarding up everything from cracks to mouse holes and Flitwick was teaching the front doors to recognize a picture of Sirius Black.

Ron became a celebrity the second he left the common room that morning, and he loved telling anyone who asked what happened. And a couple days later, Neville received a Howler from his Grandma.

Meanwhile, Anna was mostly alone. The twins refused to speak with her. And she quickly learned that sitting with her normal group of friends lead to the twins either ignoring her existence or going silent and making things awkward with everyone. So, she'd decided to stay away from her friends for the most part so as not to cause any drama. Plus, after a couple days to get used to the pain, Anna realized she was also angry at the twins. After all, they made her tell them the truth and swore they had her back, but they seemed to so easily turn their backs on her. Of course, she tried to reason that, to everyone else, it looked like Sirius Black was about to stab Ron. She could understand them being scared for their little brother.

Anna sat alone in most of her classes and ate her meals in the kitchens. The only friend that she really talked to was Hermione, seeing as they were both in the same boat, so to speak.

"So, what's going on with you and the twins?" Hermione asked quietly as they sat in the library, working on Buckbeak's case.

Anna chewed her lip, not raising her eyes from the book she was reading.

"We just…had an argument. They didn't agree with something I said." Anna admitted slowly.

Hermione peaked over the top of the book she was reading. "You three haven't really fought before, huh?"

Anna thought for a moment on that. "No, not really. We've argued, sure, but it's usually in good fun. They're the kind of people who…forgive pretty easily. They just…go with the flow, most of the time. So, no, we've never had a fight like this before." she admitted in a whisper, hoping Hermione couldn't hear that her voice was thick with tears.

They were silent for a few minutes, and Anna assumed the conversation was over. Until Hermione spoke again.

"I'm sure you'll work it out."

Anna peaked over at her, giving her an appreciative smile. "And I'm sure you, Ron, and Harry will work things out, too."

Since there was a couple years age gap between Hermione and Anna, their schedules were different enough that Anna was alone during most of the day. Her friends weren't around, so she often walked the corridors by herself. This left her open to 'attacks'.

It wasn't horrible. No one hexed her like in first year. But people pushed her around, tripped her, shoved her, whispered about her, insulted her. It got to the point that only a few days after her father broke into the castle, she'd walk with her shoulders hunched and pressed against the walls, cowering when someone came too close.

She hated it.

Anna left Care of Magical Creatures on Wednesday a bit later than her class, having to reassure Hagrid that Buckbeak's trial, which was the coming Friday, would go well. On the inside, though, she was terrified that it wouldn't. After all, she stood by her theory that Lucius Malfoy pulled strings on her own trial, why wouldn't he do the same against the hippogriff that attacked his son?

After she finally left the class, she went to the kitchens to ask the house elves for some dinner. When she finished eating, she went up to her dormitory in the hopes of getting some quiet alone time to do some OWL revision.

Unfortunately, Anna opened the door to her dormitory to hear whispers suddenly fall silent. Angelina and Alicia were sitting on Ang's bed and staring at Anna. She barely paused before approaching her own bed and plopping her things down. She pulled off her school robes and kicked off her shoes, leaving her in her uniform and skirt. She flopped down on her bed and grabbed her Charms book off the top of her trunk.

"Hey, Anna?" Angelina called quietly.

"Mhm?" Anna mumbled, staring down at her book.

"Why've you been avoiding us?" Alicia asked hesitantly.

"I haven't been avoiding you." Anna answered.

"Bullocks!" Ang snapped, standing up and approaching Anna's bed. "You sit alone in class and you don't come to meals. We haven't spoken to you all week! And whenever we ask the twins, they clam up. Did you guys get into a fight?"

"What happens between me and the twins doesn't always need to be everyone else's business." Anna told her curtly, finally looking up from her book. "If they don't want to tell you, I guess you don't need to know."

Angelina glared down at her. "We do if it effects the rest of us. You don't-"

"'Effects the rest of you'?" Anna repeated dryly. "Oh, yeah, you guys are one person short in your group. How dreadful! I'm such a horrible person, hanging around by myself all the time, letting myself get pushed around and kicked and hit. Maybe I should just go back to hanging out with all of you and see how awkward I can make it with the twins giving me the silent treatment. Let's see how quickly I can split the whole group up, or find out if anyone would stick with me when the twins ditch me. Sounds like a plan." she ranted sarcastically.

"That's why you're doing this?" Alicia asked, "You're avoiding everyone because you're afraid that you'll either split us all up, or no one will want to side with you?"

Anna glared down at her book and shrugged. It was a fair thought, she defended herself silently. After all, Katie was really the only friend she'd made on her own. The others only started hanging out with Anna because they were friends with the twins, or they were on the Quidditch team together.

"What could've been so bad that you and the twins are avoiding each other to this extent?" Angelina asked, now looking concerned instead of angered, "Have you not been eating? We never see you in the Great Hall."

"I eat in the kitchens." Anna mumbled, fingering the corner of the page she had open. "And really, if the twins don't want to tell you guys what we fought about, I'm not about to talk about it."

"I really think the three of you should just talk this out. I mean, the twins still joke and laugh, but I can tell something's different. They really miss you." Alicia told her quietly.

Anna found it impossible to swallow and suddenly felt sick to her stomach.

"Um, I think I'm going to go for a walk before curfew." she mumbled, standing up, slipping her shoes on, and quickly leaving the room, though she grabbed her favorite journal, quill, and inkwell as she went. She hurried down the stairs and paused, glancing around the room.

Fred and George were talking with Lee in the corner, and she quickly looked away from them. Her eyes found Harry and Ron sitting on the couch with a couple boys from their year. Seeing Harry, an idea popped into her head.

Pulling herself together, she quickly approached him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look over his shoulder at her. Leaning down, she spoke quietly so only him and possibly Ron could hear her.

"I get it if you say 'no', but could I use the map for a bit?"

Harry eyed her curiously, and Ron looked very suspicious.

"What for?" Harry whispered almost silently.

Anna thought for a very brief moment before grinning. "Do you really want to know?" she asked teasingly.

Harry smiled slightly before saying, "Sure. I just need to get it from my room. One minute." He got up and hurried up the stairs while Anna waited anxiously in the common room.

"What are you really planning to do with it?" Ron asked her, still looking very suspicious.

Anna narrowed her eyes slightly down at him. "What-are you afraid I'll let another murderer in the castle?" she asked sarcastically.

"So you admit you did do it."

"I did nothing of the sort." Anna snapped at him, glaring down at him.

Before he could retaliate, Harry returned from down the stairs, holding a familiar, worn bit of parchment. He passed it to Anna before sitting down.

"Thanks, Harry. I'll get it back to you as soon as I can. Definitely no later than tomorrow if you're not down here when I come back."

"Sure, no problem. This was our deal." Harry assured her.

"Alright, thanks again. See you later." she told him with a smile as she turned to leave the common room. She could see the twins watching her from the corner of her eye, but she refused to look at them. She couldn't.

Climbing out of the portrait hole, Anna hurried down the corridor and out of sight before activating the map with her wand. She looked it over to check her way was clear before moving into the nearest empty classroom.

She conjured a couple pillows and sat in the corner of the room, lighting her wand to read the map over. She wasn't really looking for anything. More than anything, she just wanted to be alone. She wanted something to take her mind off everything else. Off OWLs, and Buckbeak, and her dad, and Fred and George.

Her eyes scanned the map distractedly, following random corridors and glancing at empty classrooms. She missed doing this. Just to see who was out and about this late. It was somewhat calming.

Quick movement caught Anna's attention and she looked to where it was. It took her a second to find whatever it was, but her eyes landed on a rapidly-moving name. She stared at it blankly for a few moments before her eyes went wide.

 _'Peter Pettigrew'_.

Anna's mouth fell open as she watched the person walk along a corridor. She couldn't understand what she was seeing. Pettigrew was her father's friend in school. He was the Potters' real Secret Keeper. He was _dead_!

She didn't realize she'd shifted on her pillows, sitting up straight to get closer to the map. The little dot labeled _'Peter Pettigrew'_ was still walking along the corridor, but he was approaching a corner, and Anna saw Professor Snape walking in the conjoining corridor toward the same corner. She held her breath as they got closer to each other. She was expecting them to practically run into each other and stop; some kind of sign of a conversation or confrontation. Something.

But that didn't happen.

Pettigrew walked right past Snape, neither one stopping or even slowing down. It was as if they didn't see each other.

"What the-?" Anna breathed into the empty room. She kept her eyes fixed on Pettigrew's name, leaning closer to the point her nose was inches from the parchment. He was approaching another corner and Anna waited for him to turn again, wondering where he was going. But he didn't turn the corner. He ran straight ahead toward the wall…and disappeared!

Anna's brow lowered, her eyes frantically scanning the map all around the area the name disappeared from. She didn't understand. He'd ran straight at the wall and vanished! That's not possible!

She stared blankly at the map for several minutes before deactivating the map and folding it back up. Looking around, her eyes landed on her journal. Reaching over, she grabbed her journal, quill, and inkwell before flipping it open to the same page she'd written so many notes on her father's case.

She found the corner where she'd written down Pettigrew being the Secret Keeper. Underneath that she wrote, _'Saw Peter Pettigrew on Marauders' Map. Disappeared when he ran into a wall'_.

She couldn't help staring down at that phrase for several minutes, unsure what this could possibly mean.

XXX

The following Friday, Anna woke up around 6:30 in the morning, got dressed, and headed down to the kitchens for a meager breakfast of toast and tea. She felt sick and unable to focus, her hands shaking with nerves. Today was the day Hagrid was in London with Buckbeak for the trial. She probably wouldn't hear anything until Saturday, but she felt so helpless. Obviously, she'd done everything she could, as did Hermione. But she just wished there was a way to ensure Buckbeak's safety.

She didn't have any classes until Defense Against the Dark Arts before dinner, so she hung out in the library. After all, she had a couple essays from Charms and Transfiguration, about a hundred pages to read for Herbology, and some revision for Potions class. She worked through lunch and finally, about forty-five minutes before her class, she couldn't force her brain to focus anymore. So, she slowly made her way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

It was empty when she arrived, so she sat in the very front desk by the wall, the same desk she'd sat in during her only other Defense class that week.

She couldn't bring herself to be productive, she couldn't focus on anything specific, so Anna just sat there and stared blankly at the wall. She was like that when Professor Lupin entered the room about twenty minutes before class started.

Remus Lupin paused in the doorway of his classroom, seeing Annabelle Black sitting alone at the front of the room.

"Belle?"

Anna jumped and looked over her shoulder as Lupin approached the front of the room. He placed his briefcase on the teacher's desk as he looked at her.

"What are you doing here so early? Class isn't for another twenty minutes."

Anna shrugged. "Had nothing better to do. I couldn't make myself do more homework."

"How much homework have you done today?" he asked curiously, leaning back against the side of his desk so he could look at her.

Anna thought back before answering, "I finished two essays, read about a hundred pages, and did revision for Potions. And add all that to the fact I couldn't hardly focus because I know Hagrid and Buckbeak are on their way to London for Buckbeak's trial."

Lupin nodded. "That's right, I forgot that was today. So, you know Buckbeak, then?"

Anna was surprised. "I haven't told you that story?"

Lupin looked amused. "No, I think I'd remember a story about a hippogriff."

"Oh, well first year I had some issues with bullying and one night I got upset, so I kinda ran out to the broom shed, stole a broom, and flew off into the darkness. Unfortunately, it was storming so I got blown into the Dark Forest, where I crashed into a tree and fell to the ground. Apparently, Buckbeak found me and went to get help. I probably would've died out there from the cold and rain."

"So, now you're returning the favor, so to speak." Lupin deduced.

"Yeah pretty much."

"Well, Buckbeak's pretty lucky to have you on his side."

Anna smiled slightly. "I guess."

"You going to Hogsmeade tomorrow?" Lupin asked curiously.

Anna grimaced. She'd been trying not to think about the Hogsmeade weekend, which had been announced earlier in the week. With her best friends not speaking to her, a Hogsmeade trip just didn't sound like fun.

"Um…I don't think so. I mean, I'll probably be too anxious to leave the castle. I really want to hear back from Hagrid about how their trial goes." she answered.

Lupin eyed her knowingly for a moment. "Understandable. And you're sure it has nothing to do with the twins not speaking to you?"

Anna ducked her head for a moment before looking up at him from under her lashes, "You noticed?"

"Kinda hard not to." he shrugged, "I think McGonagall noticed, too. So, are you going to tell me what's going on there?"

Anna thought about it for a moment. If anyone were to understand the whole story, it'd be Lupin. After all, if he really was Moony from the Marauders' Map, he'd be able to explain her seeing Pettigrew on the map. But after how the twins lashed out at her, she was hesitant to tell anyone else.

"They just didn't like something I said. It's really not that big of a deal." Anna told him casually.

"They don't seem like the kind of people to get that angry about something that's not that big of a deal."

"Well,…I'm sure it'll get worked out eventually."

"Have you tried talking to them since this…argument happened?"

"No."

"Why not?"

Anna thought for a moment. "I don't know, I guess I'm just scared. Maybe they won't want to be my friends anymore."

"I somehow doubt that, given everything you three have been through together. They don't seem like the type to walk away from a friend just because of a disagreement."

Anna nodded slowly. "Yeah, I know. Thanks."

"No problem." Lupin smiled. They couldn't really continue talking as students started arriving, so Lupin went back to his desk to begin organizing for the day's lesson.

XXX

On Saturday morning, Anna watched a majority of Hogwarts leave the castle for Hogsmeade. She saw Malfoy with his goons, Ron appeared to be going alone, and the twins were going with Lee, Alicia, Katie, and Angelina.

'Yeah,' Anna thought to herself, 'staying behind is definitely for the best'.

She made her way back up to Gryffindor Tower slowly, giving the Fat Lady the password before stepping into the common room. She found Hermione in her usual corner, reading an enormous book as usual. Slowly making her way up to her dormitory, Anna grabbed all of her own homework before heading back down to sit at the same table.

"You didn't go to Hogsmeade?" Hermione asked when Anna sat across from her.

"Nah. Going alone isn't exactly fun. What about you?" Anna asked, cracking open her Arithmancy book, by far her worst subject.

"Same." Hermione gave her a small, shaky smile. She looked thoughtful for a moment before continuing in a whisper, "I'm worried Harry's going to use that map to sneak into Hogsmeade again."

Anna paused. Her and Hermione had discussed the map before, since Harry had told her and Ron who gave it to him. It was one of the things the two girls didn't exactly agree on.

"Well,…I mean, it's not like he's in any real danger in Hogsmeade. There're too many people. The worst that'll happen is he'll get in trouble, and that's really more his problem, don't you think?"

Hermione sighed, pulling parchment toward her to most likely start another essay. "I suppose you're right. But still, I worry. He has a way of…attracting dangerous attention wherever he goes."

Anna smirked. "Sounds about right. So, what are you working on?"

"Right now I'm writing an essay for Muggle Studies."

Anna paused in flipping through her own book, but not for the obvious reason. She had already asked Hermione long ago why, as a Muggleborn, she bothered taking Muggle Studies. She paused this time because she vaguely remembered how the third year schedule worked. Her Arithmancy class, a class Anna knew Hermione was also taking, since the book was sitting out in front of her, was during the same time as Muggle Studies, which the twins had taken in third year.

"Hermione? How're you taking all these classes? Doesn't Arithmancy take place during the same time as Muggle Studies?"

Hermione stiffened, but didn't look up from her essay. "Don't be ridiculous. It's not as if I can be in two places at once."

Anna eyed her suspiciously for a moment before dropping the subject and moving on to her homework.

They worked in companionable silence, occasionally breaking it to ask a quick question about their homework in case the other might know it. After a couple hours there was a quick tapping on the window right next to them. They both jumped slightly at the interruption, seeing a Brown Owl sitting on the sill. Anna stood up and pushed the window open, letting a cool breeze and the owl into the common room.

To Anna and Hermione's surprise, the owl merely dropped the letter on their table and swoop right back out the window.

They stared at the letter for a moment, both completely frozen. It was a small, folded up piece of parchment with both their names scribbled across it in blotchy writing. The parchment looked damp.

Anna swallowed thickly, her stomach churning with nerves. "I know that handwriting. It's from Hagrid."

"Do you want to open it? Or should I?" Hermione asked quietly, looking at the letter as if it were about to jump out and bite her.

Anna shook her head, her hands trembling. "I can't…" she whispered.

Hermione nodded and slowly reached for the letter. She unfolded it carefully and looked at the writing for a moment. She had to squint for a moment before taking a deep breath and reading it out loud.

"'Dear Anna and Hermione,

"We lost. I'm al-allowed to bring… _him_ back to Hogwarts. Execution date to be fixed. Beaky has enjoyed London. I won't forget all the… _help_ you both gave us.

"Hagrid'".

Hermione's voice had been shaking from the second sentence, and Anna was shaking even more. Hermione put the letter back down on the table, and Anna saw that some words were so smudged, probably from Hagrid's tears, that they were near impossible to read. That was probably why Hermione stumbled over a few of the words.

"This can't be happening." Anna whispered, unable to comprehend what she just heard. Sure, she hadn't exactly been hopeful, but the thought of Buckbeak being executed…

"There…there has to be something we can do. There'll be an appeal. There has to be one. Maybe we could do something. There has to be something we haven't tried." Hermione mumbled, trying to think of something.

"We don't stand a chance." Anna mumbled, shaking her head numbly. "Malfoy did something. No one on that Committee would dare go against him. And it's not as if Malfoy's never threatened or bribed people before."

"What do you mean? Well, I know he probably threatened the Committee. But you're talking about something specific." Hermione noted, pulling her things into a small pile. She was clearly unable to focus on homework at a time like this.

"Aside from the fact he threatened to curse the families of the school governors last year so they'd get rid of Dumbledore? Well, obviously I've got no evidence, but I'm fairly sure he did something to rig my trial against Flint."

Hermione's eyes went wide. "Seriously? Is there anyway you could have a retrial?"

"Nah. Once the Wizengamot makes their decision, I'm pretty sure it can't be changed. And anyway, I'm finally starting to move past the Flint thing. I'd rather not have to relive it all over again."

They sat in silence for several minutes before Hermione stood up and grabbed the letter. "I'm going to go wait for Harry and Ron. Tell them what's happened."

Anna barely nodded as she left the common room. She felt cold. Pulling her knees up to her chest, Anna rested her heels on the edge of her seat, hugging her knees.

She was sitting like that when Hermione returned with Ron and Harry.

"Harry and Ron are going to help us with Hagrid's appeal."

Anna sighed, dragging both her hands down her face. "I wouldn't even know where to start. We've found and mentioned nearly everything that could possibly work in Buckbeak's favor. In a normal, fair case that would've been enough. I just…I almost wish I could set him free."

"Anna!" Hermione hissed, looking appalled.

"Obviously, I can't." Anna rolled her eyes. "They'd blame Hagrid and send him to Azkaban. After what he went through there last year…I just couldn't do that to him."

Hermione's eyes softened.

Harry and Ron started a conversation about what they could maybe look into that might make a difference. Anna made a few comments, but for the most part she stared blankly ahead. Her mind kept going back to all the memories she had of Buckbeak.

Meeting him for the first time, and how terrified she was when he approached her instead of the gentler hippogriff Charlie had suggested. Her blurry memory of Buckbeak finding her in the Dark Forest. His soft feathers against her cheek when she hugged him. Sitting in the grass and leaning back against his flank as she did homework.

Anna didn't realize tears had fallen from her eyes until one hit her hand. Blinking, she reached up and quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks. Taking a deep breath, she looked around the common room. It was fuller than before, clearly people had returned from Hogsmeade. Her eyes caught sight of familiar ginger hair and she realized Fred and George were both staring at her.

Blinking, Anna quickly turned back to Hermione, Ron, and Harry, catching up on the conversation they were having. If she was going to try and save Buckbeak, she couldn't let herself focus on her fight with the twins. She had no idea where to even begin on that topic.

XXX

Over the next couple days, Ron had taken over the responsibility of Buckbeak's appeal so Hermione and Anna had less to worry about. Anna was seriously thinking Hermione was cracking. She apparently slapped Malfoy in the face after their Care of Magical Creatures class, and the same day she stormed out of Divination. Ron and Harry thoroughly enjoyed it all.

Anna was still studying for OWLs and frequently had Quidditch practice. Wood reminded them at least a couple times a day that Slytherin was ahead by 200 points, which meant they had to win the match by more than 200 points to win the Cup.

Practices went rather well, but there was a clear tension between Anna and the twins. It didn't necessarily effect the practice, but Anna had a few close calls with Bludgers due to the lack of Beaters backing her up. Oliver flat at told Anna that she needed 'to settle this silly disagreement with the Weasley twins'.

Outside of practices, there was mounting tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin. There were several small scuffles in the corridors, and Wood insisted Harry be accompanied everywhere in case Slytherin tried to put their Seeker out of commission before the match.

Unfortunately, Anna didn't receive the same protection.

It was a couple weeks after Buckbeak's trial. Anna was walking down the corridor alone after eating her dinner in the Great Hall with Hermione, Ron, and Harry, who'd been rather kind to her given everything that'd happened.

"Hey, Black!"

Anna stiffened, but didn't stop. She knew that voice. She hated that voice. She _feared_ that voice.

A hand roughly grabbed her shoulder and spun her around, bringing her face-to-face with Marcus Flint. He was flanked by a couple Slytherins, the only one Anna recognized was Graham Montague.

Anna shoved his hand off her and took a few steps back.

"Where's your little bodyguards?" Flint taunted her. "I've noticed your little Weasels haven't been around lately. Did you have a falling out?" he asked her in a baby voice while his friends laughed.

"Leave me alone, Flint. McGonagall already warned you. She'll have you thrown out of Hogwarts before you can blink if you bother me." Anna warned him, surprised her voice wasn't shaking.

"Ah. But McGonagall is nowhere to be found." Flint pointed out, gesturing to the empty corridor with his arms spread out. "There's no one here to save you this time."

Anna backed into the wall, reaching for her wand in her pocket.

" _Expelliarmus_!" one of the Slytherins shouted, and Anna's wand flew from her hand.

"Leave me alone!" Anna shouted loudly, hoping someone nearby would hear her.

Flint rushed forward and slammed her into the wall, her head flying back and smacking into the bricks. His hand covered her mouth, muffling her attempt at screaming. She brought her fists up and tried smacking every part of skin she could reach, but the other Slytherins grabbed her wrists and held them still, their grips tight enough Anna was sure they'd leave bruises.

Memories flashed before Anna's eyes and panic set in. She tried fighting harder, flailing her limbs as much as possible and managed to lift her leg and kick Flint in the shin. He cursed and pulled one of his hands back, prepared to strike her. Anna managed to yank one of her hands free and grabbed Flint's wrist, using all her strength to try and keep him from hitting her.

Flint merely yanked his hand from her grasp and brought it back in an open-handed slap across her face. The forced sent Anna's head smacking into the wall, her legs shook, and she couldn't keep herself up anymore. One person holding her wrist and Flint gripping her face over her mouth were the only things keeping her from crumpling to the ground.

"Now, why don't you just relax and I can give you a repeat performance of last time we were-"

"Hey!"

Flint and his friends looked down the corridor, but Anna couldn't turn her head. A couple of the Slytherins looked nervous, but Flint was scowling.

"Let her go, Flint! Or I'll hex off a body part you're extremely attached to."

Anna was convinced she had a serious head injury. She was hallucinating. It couldn't be who it sounded like.

But it did the job. Flint and the other Slytherins released her and backed away, letting her slide down the wall into a ball on the floor. She was shaking, trying to smother the memories Flint dragged back up. Her knees were bent up and her arms curled tightly into her chest. Her wand was tossed back to her, landing with a light thud on the ground next to her.

She kept her eyes downcast, watching as three pairs of feet backed away, turned, and left while two more pairs of feet slowly approached her. When a hand reached out, Anna flinched and curled into an even tighter ball, but the hand merely picked up her wand and slowly held it out to her.

"Anna, we're not going to hurt you." a familiar voice told her in a gentle, sad voice.

Hesitantly, Anna looked up to find Fred and George crouched in front of her, Fred holding her wand out toward her.

Shaking from head to toe, Anna reached her hand out to take her wand from Fred, her hand shaking so much it took her a second to grab the wand.

"Thanks." she whispered as she pulled away, "You can leave now. I'm fine."

"Anna…" George moved forward and Anna instantly flinched.

"We aren't going to hurt you, Anna, please." Fred implored.

"We're sorry for how we've been treating you. We were prats and you didn't deserve it." George added desperately.

"We were…we were scared after what happened with Ron and we took it out on you. You didn't deserve it and we are so, _so_ sorry."

Anna sniffed, not realizing a single tear had slipped down her cheek. "Really?" she whispered, peaking up at them nervously. Seeing the actual fear in her eyes, Fred leaned forward and gently wrapped his arms around her, pulling her forward into his chest. She sniffed and trembled, but snuggled closer into his chest, feeling completely safe for the first time in a while.

"We're sorry, Anna." George repeated, shifting and sitting next to his twin. "I know we've said that, but really…we were horrible to you. You should've hexed us or pranked us or something. We would've deserved it."

"And I'm _really_ sorry about what I said to you that night. About how you grew up alone, and…how you were helping your father so you could get what you never had. That was a horrible thing for me to say and I regretted it as soon as I said it." Fred told her guiltily.

Anna really wanted to say it was fine; after all, while those words hurt, they were nothing compared to her being completely alone for the past few weeks.

"It really hurt." she finally whispered, turning her head to rest the side of it against Fred's chest so she could sort of see George. "But being pretty much alone for the past few weeks was worse. While you were all flanking Harry so no one attacked him, I was being pushed around and hit. I swear, this time with Flint, I really tried to fight back!" she insisted suddenly, looking up at Fred and then over at George.

Fred's arms tightened around her and held her to his chest.

"We know, Anna. We know." he whispered into her hair. "And we've got your back from now on. If anyone so much as looks at you funny, they'll get a Dungbomb in their pants."

Anna laughed, turning her face into Fred's chest again.

"And if Flint tries anything funny during the match, he'll get a Bludger to the face." George assured her.

"Maybe it'll straighten his teeth out." Fred added thoughtfully, earning a couple more laughs from Anna and George.

"Hey. How about some cookies and hot chocolate or something?" George suggested, standing up, "I think we're long overdue for a trip to the kitchens."

"Speak for yourself." Anna smiled as she stood up, allowing Fred to do the same. "I've been eating nearly every meal in the kitchens for the past few weeks."

The twins suddenly frowned and Anna mentally kicked herself.

"Um, forget I said anything." she said quickly, shifting her shoulder bag back onto her shoulder. "I was fine, really. It's not that big of a deal."

The twins nodded, but they still looked guilty.

"Well, at least you won't be eating alone." Fred stated firmly, leading the way down the corridor in the direction that would take them to the kitchens.

XXX

The next couple weeks were much better than the few weeks before. Anna and the twins were back to normal, well, their version of normal. They had a quick conversation about Anna still believing her father was innocent. Fred and George were still doubtful, but told her that if she found solid evidence they'd have her back. She thanked them, but she doubted she'd tell them about anything new. She simply couldn't risk repeating their falling out. So, she decided she'd keep everything she found to herself.

Of course, Anna also took George's advice and pranked them both to get back at them. She managed to create a type of trick wand that was charmed with a Levitation Charm and Tickling Charm, so when she switched Fred's wand with it and he gave it a wave, he was suddenly floating in the air and being tickled ferociously. With George, she put an Inflating Charm on the ink in his inkwell, not the actual inkwell, and the ink Inflated until it exploded ink all over him. And of course, it was special ink that stained him for a solid 24 hours.

With all that out of the way, they were able to move past their fight and leave it in the past.

With the twins being her friends again, it took a huge weight off her shoulders, but she was still drowning in her workload. She forced herself to push her dad's issues to the back of her list, and with Ron and Harry helping with Buckbeak's case, she didn't have to work as hard on that. However, Quidditch practices increased in frequency and intensity, and teachers were handing out assignments as if their students had nothing better to do. Add in that Anna was doing OWL revision to prepare for the end of the year, and she was still under a crazy workload. But her friends made it better. Being the laid-back procrastinators that they are, the twins refused to let Anna work more than necessary. She had to spend at least a couple hours a day with them, that didn't include meals, and she wasn't allowed to worry about anything during those times.

With so much of her time taken up, and the fact that she wasn't allowed to leave the castle without supervision, Anna didn't get to spend a lot of time with Buckbeak and Hagrid. So, whenever she had time after Care of Magical Creatures she stayed after class to sit in the pumpkin patch where Buckbeak was tied up, curled up with him while she worked on some kind of homework. Then, she'd walk up to the castle with Hagrid for dinner.

She was doing just that one Wednesday evening, curled up against Buckbeak's side as he laid in the pumpkin patch. She was trying to do her Arithmancy revision, but she wasn't getting very far.

"Ugh." she groaned, letting her head fall back with a dull _thump_ against Buckbeak's back. "There's no way I'm going to get this Arithmancy OWL. I don't know what I'm going to do with my life, but I know it won't involve this rubbish." she told Buckbeak, who merely opened one eye to look at her before closing it again.

She went back to her book, trying to decipher the different numbers and how in the bleeding hell they were supposed to help predict the future. Her 'pillow' shifted and she looked over to see that Buckbeak had lifted his head. He was staring into the trees nearby.

"What's up, Buckbeak?" she asked curiously, looking over into the trees to see if she could find what he was looking at. A few moments later, she heard a twig snap. A few moments later a bush rustled. She tensed and shifted against the hippogriff, wondering if it was something dangerous, but then Buckbeak laid his head back down. It was clearly something he didn't consider dangerous.

Anna kept her eyes fixed on some nearby bushes that had moved and a second later something peaked out. It started out as a black nose, which moved closer until a fluffy head with pointed ears peaked out.

Anna's mouth fell open as a big, black dog stepped out of the bushes, staring right at her with piercing, gray eyes. She knew that dog. It was the same dog as the one in the photo she got for Christmas. She didn't know if she should be scared or not.

Finally swallowing her nerves, Anna glanced over her shoulder at the window to Hagrid's hut. He wasn't peaking out at her, so for now the coast was clear. Turning back to the dog, she found he hadn't moved. He was still staring at her.

"Padfoot?" she called quietly. His keen ears heard her and perked up, his head lifting just a bit as he stared at her. Taking another risk, she spoke again. "Dad?"

His tail began wagging, a slight whimper leaving his throat and Anna couldn't help it when the corner of her lips tugged up into a slight smile. He acted like a puppy.

"You're really my dad?" she asked quietly. She'd never seen a dog nod it's head before, but that's exactly what he did. She glanced over her shoulder again to ensure Hagrid wasn't watching her talk to a stray dog. She didn't have much time, and this was her one chance to get some questions answered for sure.

Turning back to her dad, he was laying on his stomach, his ears flat to his head and tail wagging slowly.

"You're really innocent?" she asked quietly. He nodded his head quickly, almost frantically. "So, you didn't betray the Potters." He growled and shook his head in a 'no' answer. "Okay,…was it Pettigrew? Mum said he was the real Secret Keeper. Was he the one who betrayed them to Voldemort?" Sirius snarled again, his lips pulling back to reveal yellow, sharp fangs as he nodded is head.

"Alright. Two more questions. The last question is kinda random, but I just need to know this to know I'm not crazy…" Her dad continued staring at her, waiting for her to ask her question, "Is Pettigrew still alive?" He nodded. "And is he a rat Animagus?" If a dog could look surprised, Sirius looked just like that as he quickly nodded his head again.

A loud bang made Anna jump and look over her shoulder. Hagrid had opened his back door.

"Yeh ready to get back to the castle, Anna?" he asked.

"Um," Anna turned back to the forest to find her dad had disappeared, but that was fine. She found out what she wanted to. "Yeah, I'm ready." she called to Hagrid, packing her things away so they could return to the castle.

 **XXX**

 **I know it seems extensive that Anna and the twins took about three weeks to make up, but it's not too farfetched, and it fit with my timeline. Anna has trust issues and is obviously afraid of losing her friends. And the twins are very proud, bordering on arrogant. Having to admit they're wrong and apologize could be a blow to their ego, in a sense.**


	11. Career Counseling

Easter holidays came and went without actually feeling like a holiday. Wood was becoming more obsessive than usual considering their match against Slytherin was the first Saturday after Easter holidays.

The night before the match, the Gryffindor common room was noisier than usual. Everyone's usual pursuits were abandoned. Even Hermione couldn't focus on her work.

Fred and George were being more…obnoxious than usual to deal with the pressure. At the moment they'd stolen Ron's Transfiguration textbook and were tossing it back and forth as they ran around the room to get away from him. Anna laughed with everyone else, sitting between Katie and Hermione. Hermione was trying to look disapproving, but she was clearly amused by the twins' antics.

Suddenly, Wood stood up from where he'd been crouched over a model of the Quidditch field in the corner. "Team! Bed!"

"Aw!" the twins pouted, George finally tossing the book at Ron, who barely caught it. He was red in the face and glaring at his brothers.

"Night Hermione." Anna gave her a smile as she stood up and followed Katie and Angelina up the stairs. Now she just had to get a good nights sleep for the match tomorrow.

XXX

Anna walked with the rest of the team down to breakfast the next morning, feeling slightly ill. When they entered the Great Hall, rapturous applause greeted them. Only the Slytherins hissed like the snakes they were as the team sat at their table.

"Now, I want you all to eat a nice, big breakfast." Wood told them sternly. As Anna was filling her plate with pancakes and eggs, she couldn't help noticing that Wood didn't eat anything himself. Hypocrite.

They barely had time to eat a plate each before Wood hurried them outside before the rest of the school so they could check out the weather conditions. Of course, everyone applauded them as they left. It was reassuring to have most of the school on their side, but it also added pressure, in Anna's opinion.

Standing next to Katie, Anna seriously wondered if Wood was truly insane as he paced the field, mumbling to himself. They only went into the locker room when the rest of the school began pouring onto the lawn from the castle.

It was eerily silent as they all changed into their uniforms. No one said anything, they were too nervous to speak. The only sounds were the rustles of their clothes as they changed. Anna felt if she opened her mouth to talk, vomit would spill out.

Finally, Wood peaked outside and announced to the rest of the team, "Okay, it's time, let's go-"

They walked onto the field to waves of noise. Anna's eyes scanned the crowd as she walked with her team, her broom propped up against her shoulder. About ¾ of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion, or banners with slogans like "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "LIONS FOR THE CUP!". The only section of the crowd not decked out in Gryffindor colors were sitting behind the Slytherin posts in green and silver with serpents glittering on flags.

"And here are the Gryffindors! Potter, Bell, Johnson, Black, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years-" Lee announced, to which the Slytherins booed. "And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes to the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill-" More boos followed from the Slytherins, but Anna snorted. Lee did make a good point. Malfoy wasn't necessarily small, but he was easily the smallest member of the team. She also appreciated Lee's commentary. His humor almost made Anna forget she was about to go up against Flint on the pitch. Sure, if he did anything to her on the pitch, everyone would see it and he'd probably get thrown out of the school. But there was little anyone could do to actually stop him if he so chose to do something.

"Captains, shake hands!" Hooch ordered as she did every match. Flint and Wood shook hands tightly as if they were trying to break each other's hands. "Mount your brooms! Three…two…one!"

No one could even hear Hooch's whistle because it was drowned out by the crowd as both teams rose into the air. Malfoy was instantly on Harry's tail as Angelina swooped in and nabbed the Quaffle out of the air.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for Slytherin goalposts, looking good Angelina! Argh, no-Quaffle intercepted by Warrington."

Warrington zipped past, swiping the Quaffle from Angelina and pelting back toward the Gryffindor goal post. George whacked a Bludger at the Chaser, getting him right in the gut. Warrington dropped the Quaffle and Anna swooped under him, catching it easily. She swerved around Montague and had to duck a Bludger that a Slytherin Beater sent her way. Then, she scored, earning Gryffindor ten points. Anna threw her fist into the air as she soared around the end of the field, the crowd below screaming in delight.

Flint suddenly swooped in and slammed into her, nearly knocking her off her broom. She had to hunch over her broomstick, both hands clenching the end tightly. "Sorry!" Flint called as the crowd booed at him. "Sorry, didn't see her!"

Anna shook her head, forcing herself to focus on the match and not on Flint.

"Fred." she suddenly said warningly as her friend flew past her with an angry expression, but it was pointless. Fred chucked his Beater's club right at the back of Flint's skull. Flint's head flew forward and his nose smashed into the handle of his broom, blood instantly gushing from his nose. Anna managed to duck under Flint and catch Fred's bat.

"That will do!" Hooch shrieked, zooming in between Fred and Flint. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to _their_ Chaser!"

"Come off it, Miss!" Fred argued, but Hooch blew her whistle. Anna tossed Fred his bat while Katie took the penalty.

"Come on, Katie!" Lee yelled into the silence that fell over the crowd. Katie threw the Quaffle and got it past the Slytherin Keeper. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!" Lee shouted over the crowd.

Flint was still bleeding from his nose as he took his own penalty, but Wood saved it easily.

Angelina caught the Quaffle after Wood kicked it, then a Slytherin Chaser stole it from her, only for Katie to steel it back. She streaked up the field with the Quaffle tucked under her arm.

"THAT WAS DELIBERATE!" Lee shouted over the booing field when Montague swerved in front of Katie and grabbed her head. Katie cart-wheeled in the air, barely managing to stay on her broom, but Montague achieved his goal and she dropped the Quaffle.

However, Hooch blew her whistle and yelled at Montague, giving Katie another penalty, which she easily got past the Slytherin Keeper.

"I know they're aiming for big players," Anna commented as she paused next to George, who had just whacked a Bludger at a Slytherin Chaser, "but that Keeper is honestly horrible. Has he saved a single goal all year?"

George laughed, giving Anna a fist bump before they separated to resume their play.

The crowd gasped when Harry, followed by Malfoy, suddenly sped toward the Slytherin end. Anna froze, her eyes scanning the space ahead of them, trying to find a glint that would give away the Snitch's position, but she couldn't see anything.

Both the Slytherin Beaters, wanting to stop Harry from possibly catching the Snitch, each hit a Bludger at him. They quickly followed after the Bludgers toward Harry, who flew straight up to dodge them, resulting in the two Beaters colliding with a sickening crunch. Lee laughed loudly over the crowd.

Angelina caught the Quaffle, but Flint flew up alongside her, took the Quaffle, and scored for Slytherin. This left the score with Gryffindor in the lead 30 to 10.

It quickly turned into the dirtiest game Anna had played in a long time. Bole hit Katie with his club and then tried to say he thought she was a Bludger. In retaliation, George elbowed him in the face. Hooch gave both teams penalties and Wood managed to save theirs, making the score 40 to 10.

Katie got the Quaffle and passed it to Anna, who scored, making it 50 to 10. Fred and George circled her, clubs raised, in case the Slytherins tried to get revenge, despite Anna telling them to protect the others. Bole and Derrick, the Slytherin Beaters, took advantage of the twins' distraction and shot both Bludgers at Wood, both hitting him in the stomach. He rolled over in the air, clutching his broom and looking completely winded.

Hooch was absolutely furious.

"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA! Gryffindor penalty!"

Angelina took the shot and scored, making the score 60 to 10 as Warrington caught the Quaffle after it went through the hoop. A few moments later, Fred smacked a Bludger at Warrington, knocking the Quaffle out of his hands.

Diving under the enemy Chaser, Anna caught the Quaffle, pelted back toward the Slytherin hoops, and scored; making the score 70 to 10. The crowd was screaming, and Anna's eyes quickly scanned the field until she found Harry. With Gryffindor 60 points in the lead, this was the perfect time to catch the Snitch, because it would win them both the match and the Cup.

As she watched, Harry suddenly sped upward. Malfoy bolted after him, but he wasn't nearly as fast as Harry's Firebolt. He reached forward and grabbed onto the tail of Harry's broom, effectively slowing him down. Anna lurched forward, her knuckles tightening on her broom in anger. _'That dirty, rotten, cheating-'._

The Snitch had disappeared and Hooch flew up to Malfoy. "Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics!" she was screeching, but Lee was drowning her out with his own tirade.

"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" he shouted into the megaphone, dancing out of McGonagall's reach. "YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B-"

Anna glanced over at where Lee was sitting as Angelina flew up to the hoops. McGonagall wasn't telling Lee off or trying to take the megaphone like Anna expected, she was shouting furiously and shaking her finger up at Malfoy, probably using similar language to Lee. Anna smirked.

Angelina took the penalty, but she was so angry about Malfoy's stunt, she missed it by several feet. The whole team was starting to lose concentration.

"Slytherin in possession, Slytherin heading for the goal-Montague scores-" Lee groaned, "Seventy-twenty to Gryffindor…Angelina Johnson gets the Quaffle for Gryffindor, come on, Angelina, COME ON!"

Every single Slytherin player except Malfoy streaked up the pitch toward Ang to try and block her. Anna bolted toward them to see if she could back her up, but she was too far down the pitch. Luckily, Harry had a similar idea. He shot toward them like a bullet. He slammed into the center of their blockade, scattering them and clearing the way for Angelina.

"SHE SCORES! SHE SCORES!" Lee cheered, "Gryffindor leads by eighty points to twenty!"

Harry flew back to the middle of the field after nearly flying into the stands. Malfoy suddenly dove toward the ground and Harry dove after him. He gained on Malfoy easily, laying flat on his broom as Bole hit a Bludger at him. Harry took both hands off his broom, knocked Malfoy's arm away, and grabbed the Snitch.

The stadium exploded as he pulled out of the dive with his fist in the air. The team flew toward him, Wood seized him around the neck first and began sobbing into his shoulder. Fred and George slammed into them, then Angelina, Katie, and Anna hit them, chanting, "We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!"

Tangled together in a many-armed hug, the team sank back to earth as wave after wave of crimson supporters poured onto the field.

Anna was lurched forward a couple times as hands smacked into her back, people giving the whole team congratulatory pats on the back. The crowd lifted the whole team onto their shoulders. Anna met Fred's eyes, both with beaming smiles on their faces before they scanned the crowds. Anna found Hagrid in the crowd, nearly at eyelevel with him, as he shouted, "Wait till I tell Buckbeak!" Percy was jumping up and down, McGonagall was sobbing more than Wood.

The crowd carried the whole team toward the stands, where Dumbledore stood waiting with the _enormous_ Quidditch Cup. Dumbledore handed Wood the Cup, but he shockingly passed the Cup to Harry, who was beaming more than Anna had seen since they met as he lifted the Cup into the air.

XXX

A couple days after they won the Cup, Anna's excited breakfast conversation with Katie and George was interrupted by Ariel landing in her breakfast was a small card in her beak. Anna jumped in surprise before taking the card and offering some of her toast crust to her owl.

"What the heck?" Anna mumbled, reading the card.

"What is it?" Fred asked, looking concerned.

"'Reminder: Annabelle Black's Careers Advice meeting with Professor McGonagall is this morning at 9:30'? When was this announced?" Anna read the card before directing her question at her friends.

"The announcement was posted on the bulletin over Easter holidays." Alicia told her.

"Yeah, didn't you see it?" George asked.

Honestly, she hadn't. Between seeing her dad just before Easter hols and her typical pastimes of homework and revisions, she didn't notice any new announcements.

Shaking her head, Anna grabbed George's arm to look at the watch on his wrist.

"Seriously? I've got fifteen minutes before I have to be there! I have no idea what I want to do after school!" she complained, her mind drawing a blank as she tried to picture her future after Hogwarts.

"Maybe do something with animals? Hagrid's always asking you for help in class and telling everyone how great you are with animals." Angelina told her.

"Besides, it's not like you have to come up with ideas all on your own." George pointed out.

"Yeah. Charlie and Bill told us a bit about how Career Counseling goes." Fred added, "McGonagall will look into what classes you're good at, ask what you're interested in. And whatever type of job or field you want to go into, she'll tell you what classes you'll need to take next year. It'll be fine."

Anna nodded, taking a deep breath. She ate the rest of her strip of bacon before saying goodbye to her friends and leaving the Great Hall. The good thing about this meeting being this morning, in Anna's opinion, was that she wouldn't have to go to History of Magic.

Reaching McGonagall's office a few minutes before her meeting, Anna knocked on the door. Hearing a muffled 'Come in', she pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

"Good morning, Ms. Black. Have a seat." McGonagall smiled, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk.

"Um, well, I'm really sorry, Professor." Anna stuttered as she sat down, placing her bag on the ground. "I honestly didn't even know about the career counseling until about fifteen minutes ago. I was a bit…distracted over Easter holidays."

"Ah. Well, that's understandable. I've noticed you've had a bit on your mind this year. Hopefully it won't affect your OWLs."

"I'm trying not to let that happen, Professor."

"Alright, well, do you have any possible ideas for what you'd like to go into? Hopefully not the same career path as the Weasley twins?" McGonagall asked doubtfully.

"Oh." Anna tried not to smile. The twins had made it clear for months that they wanted to open their own joke shop. "I enjoy helping them with that stuff, but I doubt I'd want it to be my actual career. That's their dream."

McGonagall looked very relieved to hear that before she pulled out a dark leaflet and flipping through it. "Well, your best classes are Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, and Transfiguration. You have good grades in nearly all your classes, though they've dropped just a bit this year. Do any of those classes strike an interest or passion?"

Anna thought about it, tilting her head slightly. "Well,…I _love_ Care of Magical Creatures," she admitted, and McGonagall's expression showed that wasn't a surprise, "but…I'm not entirely sure if it's something I'd want for a career. Maybe a hobby or part-time thing, but not an actual job."

McGonagall nodded. "Very well. That's probably for the best. There aren't necessarily many good options in that field, though having the knowledge isn't bad. Anything you think you _would_ be interested in?"

Anna chewed her bottom lip, racking her brain for possibilities. Then, the past several months drifted back to her. Researching both Buckbeak's case and her dad's, trying to prove them innocent when it seemed the whole world was against them. While it wasn't necessarily fun, and was very stressful, she felt like she needed this. Now that she thought about it,…helping Buckbeak, her dad, and maybe other people in the future get the justice they deserve could help make up for her not getting justice for what happened to her.

"What about…" she started slowly, "are there maybe any careers in…I don't know…law enforcement?"

"Hm. Law enforcement? Like, maybe an Auror?" McGonagall suggested, looking through another folder.

"Um,…no not quite like that." Anna shook her head, unsure how to describe what she was thinking. She knew what Aurors were and what they had to go through, thanks to Tonks, and that wasn't necessarily what she wanted to do. "I mean,…I'm not sure how to describe what I want to do. I just…I want to maybe do something so that I can help people get the justice I didn't get." she answered slowly, leaving out her thoughts on her father's case, since everyone thought he was guilty.

McGonagall's brows rose and her stern exterior softened just a bit. "Ms. Black…what happened to you…that's not really a common occurrence."

"I disagree." Anna argued before she could stop herself. "Something went wrong with my case. There's no proof as to what, but I have my suspicions. Then there's Buckbeak's case, which is slightly irrelevant, but because Malfoy's father is rich and pureblood, he can threaten and bribe whoever he needs to in order to ensure Buckbeak is executed even though it was all Draco's fault. Then,…there's my dad. Yes, all the evidence was against him, but by law he should have gotten a trial, but he didn't. Even the most cruel and evil followers of Voldemort's got trials when they proudly admitted to their crimes. All three of those are personally connected to me, and justice was not, or has not been, properly served. I want to stop things like that from happening."

McGonagall stared intently at Anna for several moments before nodding once. "I think you've found something you're passionate about, Ms. Black." she stated simply before flipping through her folder. "I can think of a couple career paths you may want to consider that could help you with what you want. First one, a position in the Wizengamot Administration Services. They're in charge of administrative and clerical duties, court documents, hearing dates, and legal proceedings." she explained before handing a paper with that information to Anna, who glanced it over.

"Another possibility is the Investigation Department, which is a subdivision of the Auror office. It focuses on investigating and tracking down dark wizards." McGonagall added, handing Anna another paper to read over.

Anna skimmed over both papers, feeling mildly pressured. How was she supposed to choose a career now that she'd have to live the rest of her life with?

"What classes would I need for these careers?" Anna asked, hoping that would give her some idea.

"Well, any Ministry career requires several OWLs with Exceeds Expectations or better. For the Wizengamot Administrative Services, I would recommend History of Magic, Charms, Transfiguration, and maybe Potions. And obviously try and get a few more than that, but without those you'd be moved to the bottom of their list of possible employees.

"The Investigation Department is in the same office as the Aurors, though it won't be quite as strict since it's not necessarily as dangerous. However, you'll need some of the same classes. Obviously, Defense Against the Dark Arts is necessary in that field, and you'll need Charms, Transfiguration, Potions, and possibly Herbology."

Anna nodded slowly. "Um,…what if a certain Professor in one of those classes despises me and frequently gives me lower grades than I deserve?"

McGonagall looked mildly amused. "I assume you're referring to Professor Snape." Anna nodded. "Well, I'd say you're averaging at a low 'Exceeds Expectations' in Potions at the moment. However, I must warn you, Snape refuses to take students who receive anything other than 'Outstanding' in their OWLs."

Anna was instantly worried. "So, if Snape even gives me 'Exceeds Expectations', I won't be able to continue with Potions, even if I need it for either one of those careers?"

McGonagall shook her head regretfully. "If I were you, I'd do a lot of extra revising for that class. You seem to be doing rather well in your other classes, but you can't really afford to get below 'Acceptable' in them. Luckily, Professors aren't in charge of grading your OWLs, there are Ministry employees who come down and handle it."

Anna nodded, looking back and forth between the two job papers.

"Um,…so I have to choose today? I have to just pick a career?" Anna questioned uncertainly.

McGonagall eyed her for a moment. "Well,…typically students come in here already with an idea of what they want to do. However, seeing as you came in here caught fairly off guard and only just seemed to get an idea for a career path, I suppose you could wait to make an official decision. Both those careers would require similar OWLs, which I've made note of here," she said, handing Anna another small parchment, "so as long as you try and get as many of those as you can, you should be fine. You won't get your OWL results until the summer, so…try and get back to me by the start of next year with your answer. Would that be reasonable?"

"Yeah, I think that should be fine. Thank you, Professor." Anna told her earnestly.

"You're welcome, Ms. Black. Now, if you haven't any more questions for me, you may be dismissed to return to class."

"Okay. Have a good day Professor." Anna smiled, stacking her papers evenly as she stood, grabbed her bag, and left the room.

XXX

The twins joined Anna in the common room one evening with sour expressions. This drew her attention away from her Potions revision.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"Nothing. Just Percy being a prat." Fred told her.

"As usual." George added.

"What'd he do this time?" Anna asked tiredly, turning back to her revision to only pay half attention to them.

"Well, we were just minding our own business," Fred started.

"pranking a couple second year Slytherins,"

"when he marched up and started lecturing us about how we should be studying for our OWLs and that we won't get good jobs in the Ministry if we don't do well."

"As if we'd _ever_ want to get a job there." George rolled his eyes.

"And _then_ ," Fred exclaimed, making Anna jump, "he took House points from us! Can you believe him?"

"The horror." Anna muttered, rolling her eyes discreetly. While she didn't necessarily like Percy that much, since he _was_ a pompous git, anyone would've taken House points for the twins pranking other students. It was common sense. That's why they're not supposed to get caught.

"I kinda wish he'd choke on his own tongue." George stated, "Just so we could get some peace."

Fred nodded before he froze. Feeling him go tense with his arm against hers, Anna looked up at his face. It was frozen in a thoughtful look, as if an idea was just barely within his grasp. Then, he lit up with a beaming, devious smile.

"Georgie, you're a _genius_!" he exclaimed, sitting up straight.

"Well, I already knew that," George told him with a smirk, "but care to tell me what I did this time?"

Anna was no longer focusing on her Potions because she was just as curious.

"What if we created a sweet of some kind that could make your tongue swell?" Fred suggested excitedly.

George's face also lit up. "Brilliant! We could use toffees, so the name would be catchy. Like Tongue-Tied Toffee or something like that."

"We'll work on the name, but that's a good start." Fred added.

"You could try using an Engorgement Charm on them, or maybe a Swelling Solution?" Anna suggested, getting caught up in their infectious excitement as a smile split her lips.

"Perfect!" the twins both exclaimed, grinning at her.

"We'll do some experimenting to see which would work better." Fred added.

"Well, I can't do much else right now." Anna told them, figuring they'd want to start right away, "I need to finish this Potions revision tonight."

"Why are you even bothering with a Potions revision?" George asked, as they both had several times in the past few days since their Career Advice meetings.

"Snape hates you. He'll make your life hell." Fred added.

"Because…the career I'm considering needs Potions." Anna told them, "And anyway, you two have the potential to get an 'Outstanding' if you worked just a bit harder. You're way smarter than you pretend to be."

"SSHH!" the twins hissed, Fred leaning over to cover Anna's mouth as they dramatically looked around the room.

"Don't tell people that!" Fred hissed mockingly.

"And don't try to distract us." George added a bit more seriously, "When are you going to tell us what career you're considering?"

"When I've made a decision." she answered when Fred removed his hand.

"We were supposed to already tell McGonagall." Fred told her.

"I know, but since I was…distracted, she gave me until the start of next year to make my decision, after I get my OWL scores. I'm trying to choose between two careers."

"We could help you choose." George told her.

"You probably wouldn't like either option." Anna told him as she looked at the next Potion on the list that she needed to explain.

"If we wouldn't like it, why do you?" Fred asked.

"We don't have identical hobbies and dreams."

"Is it a Ministry job?" Fred asked cautiously.

Anna didn't answer, choosing to focus on her book.

"Anna!" George exclaimed in shock, "Why would you want a job in the _Ministry_? That's just-"

"Okay." Anna closed her book with a sharp snap. "I don't attack your guys' dream of owning a joke shop, if anything I defend you two. I don't want to tell you guys about what jobs I'm thinking of pursuing for that exact reason. Yes, both options are in the Ministry, and I knew you'd attack me about it."

Both redheads had the decency to look ashamed.

"Anna,…we're sorry." George apologized. "We don't mean anything by it, you know. We just…most Ministry jobs are office jobs like what Dad does, and what Percy wants to do. We just didn't think you'd want to do that."

"I don't find those kinds of jobs 'fun' necessarily." Anna told them. "But…both the jobs I'm thinking of…they meet a certain need of mine. To help people, I guess. Look, just forget about it, please. I'll tell you both when I make my decision. I promise."

"You sure? If you just told us, we'd understand." George told her.

"I just have a lot to think about." Anna answered, opening her book again to continue her revision.

XXX

The month of May was probably the hardest time of the year to study. Students all over the castle had to literally force themselves to study while the weather outside was cloudless and warm with a summer breeze blowing through the trees. Anna and her friends tried to make it easier by having occasional study sessions outside, but quickly discovered it was too distracting. The twins actually studied more than they normally did, but it still wasn't nearly as much as the girls did.

Anna still worked a little bit with Ron, Hermione, and Harry on Buckbeak's case, but they all had a lot on their plates. There was also not much more for them to do, since they read every book they could find that may offer even a sliver of help. Hagrid also sent Anna a note telling her and the others to focus on their studies, saying that they'd done enough. He also informed all of them that Buckbeak's appeal was set for June 6th, which was the day they finished their exams, and that someone from the Ministry was coming to Hogwarts with an executioner. This, of course, upset Anna, Hermione, Ron, and Harry. It sounded like they'd already made their decision.

Malfoy had also become more unbearable than normal, and Anna didn't even have any classes with him. Like most of Slytherin House, Malfoy had been very subdued since Gryffindor's victory on the Quidditch pitch, but he had recently become more smug at the fact he was the cause of Buckbeak's possible execution. He bragged to anyone who would listen that his father would probably give him the hippogriff's head to hang on his wall. Most than once, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia had to literally drag Anna away from possibly breaking his nose.

"Ugh." Anna groaned, rubbing her eyes with her hands. She'd been studying History of Magic for the past hour straight and her eyes were burning with tiredness, the words starting to blur together.

Closing the book, Anna leaned back into the couch, glancing around the common room. It was quieter than normal, kids in every corner in study groups, barely letting out the occasional whisper. It was a Saturday night, and the coming Monday was the first day of exams.

Glancing around, Anna decided she needed to stretch her legs, and she did have a library book she needed to return, anyway.

"I'm going to return a book to the library. I'll be back later." Anna told her friends, who were sitting around and studying like everyone else. They nodded or mumbled to show they heard as she stretched and headed to her room to retrieve the book.

When she placed the book on Madam Pince's desk several minutes later, Anna scanned the library, which also had several students studying. Her eyes found a section in the far corner of the library, and for some reason it made her curious. Heading deeper into the library, Anna was able to see the sign above the isle.

 _'Public Records'._

Curiosity further piqued, Anna glanced around before stepping into the isle and looking around. There appeared to be all kinds of files, criminal records, birth dates, death dates, even court dockets.

An idea was forming in Anna's mind as she walked along the isle, noticing that they appeared to at least be organized by date. She continued along the bookshelf until she came to the year 1981. She stopped and looked closer at dates and labels. Finally, she found what she was looking for and pulled a couple files from the shelf. She took it to a nearby table and sat down to flip the file open.

Her throat closed when the first picture she found was her father's mug shot. Quickly flipping it over, she skimmed through the file.

 _'…witnesses claim to have seen Black laughing maniacally after an explosion went off, killing Pettigrew and twelve Muggles…'_

 _'…all that was left of Pettigrew was his finger…'_

Anna paused, rereading that last sentence. For some reason, it struck something in the back of her mind. _'All that was left of Pettigrew was his finger…'_

Her mind flashed to when she saw Pettigrew's name on the Marauder's Map, which reminded her of when she wrote the word 'rat' next to his name, figuring he could be a rat Animagus, which her father confirmed. Pettigrew was alive and probably running around as a rat, which explained him disappearing on the Map. He probably escaped down a mouse hole or something.

An image suddenly floated in front of Anna's eyes. A memory of a tiny, clawed paw with a single claw missing.

 _'All that was left of Pettigrew was his finger.'_

Anna's head snapped up. No. No, it couldn't be possible. And yet…

 _"Yeah. We've had him for twelve years."_ Ron's voice echoed in her head from the day he asked her to look over Scabbers.

It _could_ be possible. Garden rats couldn't live more than a few years, but a man disguised as a rat could. Plus, twelve years ago was when Pettigrew was "murdered". And distinguishable features a witch or wizard has as a human shows in their Animagus form, like McGonagall's spectacles. If Pettigrew somehow lost his finger that night, which was the only part of him they could find, his rat form would also be missing that same finger, or claw.

"Pettigrew is Scabbers." Anna whispered, just barely louder than a breath. Saying it out loud made her feel crazy; certifiably insane. But it fit. This was the final piece of the puzzle. Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper, he sold them out to Voldemort, her father found out and went to confront him, but Pettigrew somehow set him up. He must've set off the blast, either accidentally or purposefully losing his finger in the process, transformed, and ran, leaving Sirius to take the fall.

But this was insane. No one would believe a word of this. They'd laugh her out of the room and have her thrown in a padded cell. She needed proof. She needed to find that rat.

Closing the file, she hurriedly left it on Madam Pince's desk and raced all the way up to the seventh floor to the common room. After panting the password to the Fat Lady, Anna scrambled into the common room and looked around frantically.

She found Harry easily, sitting with Ron and Hermione. Hermione had her head buried in a book, but the boys appeared to be talking. She forced herself to walk slowly and calmly up to Harry, sitting down on the floor next to them. The trio greeted her, since they'd all become somewhat close in the past weeks.

"Hey, guys. Done studying for the night?" Anna asked pleasantly, trying not to breathe too heavily after her run up seven stories.

"We are, Hermione isn't." Ron told her, rolling his eyes.

"Why are you out of breath?" Harry asked curiously, "Did you prank Snape again?" this question was more joking. After the boggart incident in the beginning of the year, her and Neville's boggarts were the talk of the castle.

"Ha ha ha. No." Anna laughed dryly. "I was in the library, if you must know. That place is terrifying." she stated in a mock-serious voice that made Harry and Ron snort. "Anyway, I was wondering if you could do me a favor." she finally told Harry.

"Sure. What is it?"

"Well," Anna glanced around quickly before leaning a bit closer, "could I maybe borrow the Map for a bit?"

Harry's face dropped and he looked guilty. This immediately worried Anna as she waited for him to speak.

"Um, actually…About that, on the last Hogsmeade weekend something happened…"

"And?" Anna urged worriedly.

"Well, Snape tried to confiscate it," Anna took in a sharp breath, but Harry hurried on, "but Professor Lupin took it instead."

"So,…Professor Lupin has it?" Anna asked, not sure how to feel about that.

"Yeah. It's probably in his office." Harry told her quietly, "I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to get it taken away…"

"No, it's fine." Anna gave him a small smile. "I'll just…sneak into Lupin's office and see if I can find it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Hermione asked her in a disapproving tone as she peaked over the top of her book.

"For once, this is slightly important. Like, above school rules important." Anna told her as she stood up. Waving to them, she headed slowly back toward the portrait hole. Unfortunately, she had to walk right past her friends.

"Anna." Fred quietly called her name, making her stop and look down at where he and George were sitting.

"What's wrong?" George asked her seriously. Both of them could tell something was troubling her.

"Um,…nothing. I just need to look at the Map. Apparently, it's in Lupin's office."

"What do you need it for?" Fred asked knowingly.

"Nothing you need to worry about." Anna told him stiffly.

Fred and George exchanged a knowing glance, and Anna knew they suspected what she was up to.

"Is it about…your 'theory'?" George asked.

Anna was silent for a few moments, looking around the common room as if searching for a possible answer. "Possibly." she finally whispered.

"Wanna tell us about it?" Fred offered gently.

"No." Anna answered abruptly. She couldn't hear them tell her how crazy she was all over again.

"Alright, we can respect that." George told her gently. "But seriously, we've got your back. We swear."

"We didn't really show that last time, but we'll always be there for you, Anna."

Anna nodded. "I'll keep that in mind." she whispered before turning and leaving the room.

It was risky getting to Lupin's office without being seen. Anna was almost caught by Filch and his stupid cat, but managed to hide in time. Finally, she reached the door and peaked inside. She couldn't see anyone, so she crept inside and snuck over to Professor Lupin's desk. It was bare, so after a quick glance around, she began peaking in all the drawers. She was starting to get frantic when she got to the last drawer, the bottom one on the right side. She pulled the drawer open and nearly cried in relief when she found a familiar, folded up parchment.

She pulled it out and laid it out on the desk, unfolding it before tapping it with her wand and muttering, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

As always, Hogwarts castle slowly began to appear on the map, along with several dots and names. Most names were in the library or common rooms, since it was getting late and curfew was quickly approaching.

Anna planted her hand on the desk, leaning over the map and frantically scanning all the rooms and corridors. He had to be somewhere in the castle. He just _had_ to. If he left the castle…

"I probably should've expected you would know how to work that."

Anna jumped and lurched around, staring at Professor Lupin, who was standing in a doorway to what was probably his quarters. He was staring at her expectantly.

"Um, I…I'm sorry, Pr-Professor, I was just…" Anna trailed off, looking down at the map, still searching hopefully.

"Given the nature of that map, you look quite a bit worried. So, it's safe to assume you're here for an important reason." Lupin noted as he approached her.

Anna swallowed, dragging her eyes back to stare up at him.

"Something you'd like to tell me?" Lupin asked evenly.

Anna opened her mouth for a few moments before closing it and dropping her head. "I don't need you to call me crazy, too."

"Why would I do that?"

"Because…I don't know. Maybe I am crazy. Maybe I should be locked in a padded room in a straight jacket or something." Anna blurted, running her hands through her hair.

Lupin watched her for a moment before speaking again. "I take it this is what started the disagreement between you and Fred and George?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I've seen some pretty crazy things in my life. I doubt whatever you have to say could truly surprise me." Lupin told her.

Anna gave him a doubtful look.

Lupin waved his wand, bringing two chairs up to sit facing each other. He sat in one and gestured to the other, so Anna sat down as well.

"I wouldn't even know where to start right now. Everything's jumbled up, and…and you'll think I'm insane." Anna told him.

"Take your time. Think about where you'd like to start." Lupin told her gently.

Anna nodded slowly, swallowing as she thought. Her eyes instinctively moved to the map, and she had an idea of where she could start.

"You were the Marauders." she stated quietly, looking back at Lupin to watch his reaction.

He didn't seem entirely surprised that she figured that much out. "I figured since you've seen the map you'd have put that together."

"You're Moony, my dad is Padfoot, James was Prongs, and Peter was Wormtail."

Lupin nodded once. "That's correct."

"My dad may have been using the secret passages on the map to get into the castle."

Lupin looked down, his face ashamed. "I know. I know I should've told Dumbledore."

"That's not what I'm getting at." Anna cut him off. "You're all Animagi."

Lupin's head snapped up and he stared at her with wide eyes. "Wh-how…Where'd you get that idea?"

"For Christmas I got an old family photo from an anonymous source. You were in the background, I was only a couple years old, and I was crawling all over a big, black dog. I've always found the name Padfoot on the map familiar, and when I saw that dog I wanted to call him Padfoot. So, I asked you about the name-"

"And I told you it was your dad's nickname." Lupin groaned, putting his hand to his forehead.

"Yeah. I couldn't understand why I wanted to call a dog my dad's nickname, until I saw McGonagall transform in class. Even though it sounded crazy, I figured it was at least possible. I'm right, aren't I?"

Lupin sighed heavily, nodding his head. "Mostly right, yes. I'm…not an Animagus, but the others were."

"James was, I think he was a stag or something? And Pettigrew's a rat."

"Yes. You're right. Is that what's been bothering you?"

Anna shook her head. "Not necessarily. I think…no, I _know_ my dad is innocent."

Lupin looked up at her, his face more sad than anything.

"Belle,…I'm sorry. I wish that were possible, but-"

"It is!" Anna insisted. "It is true, and I can prove it! I saw Pettigrew on the map!" she exclaimed, pointing at the Marauders' Map.

Lupin stared at her, looking completely in shock. Finally, after several moments he whispered shakily, "That's not possible."

"It is! Please, you have to believe me." Anna begged as Lupin turned to look down at the map. "My mum told me they changed the Secret Keeper at the last minute and only a few people knew. Peter was the Secret Keeper. He betrayed the Potters and my dad went to confront him. I'm still not positive what happened that night, but I've _seen_ Pettigrew. I've held him, as a rat. Ron Weasley's rat Scabbers. He's a rat that they've owned for twelve years, which matches up to when Pettigrew 'died'. And all they found of Pettigrew was a finger, and Scabbers is missing a front claw."

Lupin was shaking his head slowly, but to Anna's relief he was doing so more in shock than denial.

"Please, you have to believe me." she begged again, "I can't handle another person telling me how crazy I am. My dad is innocent. All we have to do is find Pettigrew. I'm begging you, Professor, please."

Lupin took a deep breath before turning back to her. "You're sure you saw Pettigrew on this map."

"Positive. He was running down a corridor, he ran right past Snape, and when he ran at a wall he disappeared. I'm guessing he ran through a mouse hole or something."

"If he's left the castle, I don't see how we can find him." Lupin stated quietly, his eyes thoughtful.

"But we have to try. My dad's been sitting in a cell in Azkaban for twelve years as an innocent man. Please, we have to-"

"Of course I'll do anything I can." Lupin assured her. "We'll figure something out, Annabelle. If worse comes to worse, we'll go to Dumbledore. Something. I promise."

Anna nodded, sighing in relief as if the weight of the world had been lifted off her shoulders. She wasn't alone. Someone believed her and was going to help.

"I'll keep this map open as much as possible, and I'll keep an eye on it. You can come in to look at it whenever you want, but we'll keep that between us, okay?" Anna nodded seriously, "But I want you to focus on your OWLs, as well. Your future is just as important, your father would agree with me on that."

Anna nodded in defeat. "Okay. Thank you."

Lupin gave her a small smile. "You don't need to thank me, Belle. Now," he continued briskly, getting a quill and scrap of parchment from his desk drawer, "it's after curfew, so I'll write you a quick note in case you get stopped on the way back to your dormitory. There you go." He handed her the parchment after he wrote on it. "Have a good night, Belle."

"You, too, _Moony_." she said with a smile before leaving the room. Finally, she was getting somewhere. She may actually be able to prove her father innocent.

 **XXX**

 **We are nearing the end of the** _ **Prisoner of Azkaban**_ **part of the story! (Don't worry, this story will go through the Goblet of Fire, at least.)**

 **I hope you all liked this chapter, and I hope the next few chapters are to your liking as well. I will probably post the next chapter on May first or second, in honor of the Battle of Hogwarts. Thanks for reading!**


	12. The Shrieking Shack

Annabelle scanned the dozen little, spiny animals huddled before her. She was standing out on the grounds near the forest, an elderly wizard standing nearby with a clipboard.

Glancing around, she grabbed a bowl that was on the ground, filled it with milk using her wand, and set it on the grass before backing away. Eleven of the little mammals scurried up to the bowl and shoved to get their share of the drink. But one of the animals, the Knarl among the hedgehogs, backed away with a tiny growl. The only easy way to tell a Knarl from a hedgehog was offering it food. They look almost identical, but hedgehogs eagerly accept food while Knarls think it's a trap.

Smiling, Anna looked over at the examiner. "That one's the Knarl."

"Excellent. Another perfect." he told her with a small smile. Her Care of Magical Creatures OWL had included demonstrating correct handling of a Bowtruckle, feeding a Fire Crab without sustaining serious burns, which she'd done with only a small burn on her hand, and choosing from a wide selection the diet to give a sick Unicorn.

It was Tuesday of the second week of OWL exams. Monday of the first week had been Charms. That same day, Anna noticed several girls complaining about stress acne, which she had the fortune of not having to deal with due to her Metamorphic abilities. This prompted her to suggest to the twins that the three of them should invent a kind of pimple vanisher as a product for their joke shop, which they thought was a brilliant idea.

Tuesday was the Transfiguration OWL, which Anna felt she did perfectly in. Wednesday was Herbology, and Fred got bit by a Fanged Geranium. Thursday was Defense Against the Dark Arts. And Friday Anna had a day off because that was the day the Ancient Runes OWL was taken, which Anna didn't take.

Monday, the day before, had been the Potions OWL, the one Anna had been dreading the most, and for good reason. It was _extremely_ difficult, and included questions on Polyjuice Potion and Draught of Peace. Anna felt confident in receiving at least 'Exceeds Expectations'.

Wednesday she was scheduled to take her Arithmancy and Astronomy OWLs, and Thursday would be History of Magic.

In times between exams, Anna either studied, relaxed with her friends, or checked on the map in Lupin's office. Unfortunately, they hadn't seen any signs of Pettigrew, and Lupin said if they didn't have any progress by Thursday night, they'd go to Dumbledore.

Since she was finished with her exam for the day, Anna picked up her shoulder bag and went to Hagrid's hut. Hagrid was out on the grounds handling some of his gamekeeper duties, but he'd said she was welcome to visit Buckbeak whenever she wanted. Apparently, he'd been a bit depressed since he was cooped up all the time now.

When she entered the front door of Hagrid's hut, Buckbeak lifted his head and instantly perked up at the sight of her. Fang was also excited to see her, approaching her with his tail wagging.

Anna set her bag on the ground, scratched Fang behind the ear, and approached Buckbeak. She sat down in her usual position, leaning back against Buckbeak's flank. He nudged her with his beak so she'd pet his neck while Fang laid down next to her with his head in her lap.

XXX

Anna left her History of Magic exam in the Great Hall kicking herself for forgetting the date Clause 73 was added to the International Statute of Secrecy. Apart from that, she felt fairly confident that she did well on that exam, and she felt a huge relief at finally being done with OWL exams. She could only imagine how stressful NEWTs were going to be in seventh year.

When she reached the common room, she was greeted by Katie at the couch.

"Hey, Ariel arrived with a note." Katie told her.

Anna approached her owl, who was perched comfortably on the back of the couch. Taking the note from her beak, she found it was from Hagrid. The weight she felt she'd lost at the end of her exams seemed to crash back down on top of her, crushing her to death.

Buckbeak had lost his appeal.

Feeling ill, Anna mumbled something to Katie about going to Hagrid's before hurrying back out of the common room. Hagrid's note had told her the execution was scheduled for sunset, but he didn't want her to come down. He didn't want her to see it, but she couldn't stay away. She needed to be there for Hagrid and Buckbeak.

She snuck out of the castle and hurried down to Hagrid's hut. When she reached it, she knocked loudly on the door.

There was some loud banging inside before the door swung open to reveal a very teary-looking Hagrid.

"Anna! What're yeh doin' here?! I told yeh not to come!"

"As if I could stay away." Anna retorted, "I just want to sit with him for as long as I can. Please."

Hagrid caved and stepped aside to let her in.

"He's tied up outside. Wanted him to get some fresh air before…yeh know." Anna nodded in understanding, catching a glimpse of gray feathers through the back window. "Yeh want some dinner and tea first? I'm guessing yeh haven't eaten yet."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that." Anna chuckled slightly, sitting down and accepting the food he placed before her. The tea was fine, but the sandwich…Anna barely managed to stomach that, but she was used to Hagrid's cooking.

They ate and talked for a while before Anna went outside to sit with Buckbeak. He was laid down in the pumpkin patch, tethered to a tree nearby. Anna sat next to him, her side curled into his. She hid her face in his soft feathers, only allowing a few tears to fall. She just couldn't believe this amazing creature was going to be killed because some spoiled brat lied to his 'daddy'. It was sickening and it tore Anna up inside.

After a while, Anna thought she heard something. Footsteps in the grass and some whispers. She looked toward Hagrid's hut and heard him open his front door. There was some whispering, but she couldn't see the door from where she was behind the hut.

Shaking it off since she hadn't seen anyone, Anna laid her head back against Buckbeak's shoulder and closed her eyes, savoring the moment for as long as she could.

She didn't know how long she sat there with Buckbeak. It didn't feel like long enough, to be honest. She never wanted to leave. She could've fallen asleep there and been fine with it. However, her peace was interrupted when she heard the backdoor open and close. Lifting her head, Anna looked over Buckbeak's back. She could've sworn she heard footsteps again, from just a few feet away, but she couldn't see anything.

Hearing voices from the path, Anna's head spun around to see Dumbledore, Minister Fudge, and a couple other people walking toward Hagrid's hut. Seeing that one man was carrying a large axe, Anna stiffened.

The adults noticed her, and Dumbledore was the only one not wearing a negative expression at the sight.

"Young girl, what do you think you're doing?" the Minister demanded in shock. "Get away from that beast this instant!"

Anna made a show of snuggling even closer to Buckbeak's side.

"No thanks, I'm rather comfortable where I am." she told him.

"Ms. Black, I think it would be wise if you went back up to the castle. It will be dark soon and you wouldn't want to be out past curfew." Dumbledore told her pointedly.

Anna bit her tongue, not wanting to disrespect Dumbledore. She'd really have no problem giving Fudge an attitude, because he'd done nothing to earn her respect so far.

"Buckbeak didn't do anything wrong!" she insisted. "I was there! I saw and heard everything! Malfoy provoked him!"

"Now, young lady, we've already reviewed the case and a decision has been made. There's nothing more you can say or do, so I suggest you leave." Fudge told her as if he were speaking to a child.

Before Anna could give a stinging retort, Hagrid stepped out of his hut and turned the corner so she could see him.

"Annabelle! Yeh get on up to the castle! I told yeh I don't want yeh to see this!" he ordered her in the most stern voice she'd ever heard him use.

Sighing, Anna's shoulders fell in defeat. She nodded and stood up, giving Buckbeak one more hug before climbing the slope up toward the castle. She found Harry, Ron, and Hermione already standing up there but she was too upset to wonder how they got there or where they came from. She merely came to a stop next to Ron, and all four of them stared down the slope. They couldn't see Buckbeak from where they were, but they waited in tense silence. No one said a word or made a sound.

Finally, they heard it. The swish and dull thump of the axe, which sent a painful jolt through Anna's chest.

"They did it!" Hermione whispered tearfully, "I d-don't believe it-they did it!"

Anna felt sick to her stomach, her eyes staring blankly ahead as she tried to blink tears from her eyes, which were fixed on the horizon. She couldn't help finding the irony of the setting sun making the sky red, as if it were stained with Buckbeak's blood.

She sucked in a shaking breath, her hands moving up to run through her hair. Her eyes caught movement and she dazedly glanced over. Ron was holding an all-too-familiar rat in his hands. Anna froze, her hands slowly lowering from her hair. 'Scabbers' was wriggling frantically in Ron's hands, as if trying to escape. She couldn't let that happen. The man who betrayed the Potters and framed her dad was just inches away from her twitching fingers.

"Um, hey Ron?" Anna spoke quietly, trying to sound as normal as possible, "Isn't that Scabbers?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah. He was in Hagrid's hut and we found him." Ron told her quietly, looking down at his rat as he struggled to re-grip the wiggling rodent.

"Huh. Well,…do you want me to maybe check him over? See if he's hurt or anything?" she offered casually, her eyes fixed on the rat.

'Scabbers' paused for a moment before wiggling more vigorously than before. He twisted his head and sank his fangs into Ron's finger.

"Ow!" Ron shouted, promptly dropping Scabbers on the ground. The rat instantly raced away and Ron and Anna bolted after him, though for different reasons. Anna could hear Harry and Hermione behind them. Out of nowhere, Crookshanks joined the chase.

"Get away!" Ron yelled at the cat, "Scabbers! Come back!"

Eventually, Ron dove for Scabbers and managed to catch him laying sprawled on the ground. Anna tripped over him and fell partially on his back. Harry and Hermione almost did the same.

"Sorry." Anna panted, pushing herself up off Ron and rolling onto her butt in the grass. Anna froze in her panting, holding her breath when her ears caught something. It was a low pounding. The thundering of giant paws running toward them.

Suddenly, a familiar, enormous, pale-eyed, jet-black dog came racing towards them out of the darkness. To Anna's surprise, Sirius tackled Harry, but rolled right off him. He then latched onto Ron's arm and dragged him away as if he were a rag doll. Anna instinctively tried to grab Ron's leg, but she just missed. She scrambled to her feet and raced after them with Harry and Hermione on her heels.

Anna didn't think much about where they were or where they were going. That is, until she was suddenly smacked in the gut and thrown back a few feet.

Winded and ribs stinging painfully, Anna slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. The Whomping Willow was swinging it's branches angrily, keeping them far away. Anna's eyes moved to the base of the tree. Sirius dragged Ron into the large gap in the roots. Harry and Hermione were trying to get to them, but the branches were swinging like crazy.

Ron slipped out of sight until only his leg was visible, which he hooked around the root in an attempt to stop the dog from pulling him farther. But with a horrible crack that cut through the air and made Anna wince, his leg broke and he vanished from sight.

"We've got to go for help." Hermione panted. She was bleeding from her shoulder, Harry from his head.

"No! That thing's big enough to eat him; we haven't got time-"

"We're never going to get through without help-"

Anna lunged to one side as a branch that looked eerily like a fist swung at her.

"There's got to be a way inside." Anna panted. "This is listed on the Marauders' Map as a secret passage. There has to be a way to get in there."

As she finished speaking, Crookshanks darted forward, dodging between branches before placing his front paws on a random knot on the trunk. To the students' shock, the tree went perfectly still.

"How did he know-?" Hermione looked at her cat in complete bewilderment.

"Who cares?" Anna snapped, bolting forward to get into the tunnel first, Crookshanks the only one ahead of her. They slid down an earthy slope into a very low tunnel. It was so low they had to walk hunched over. They all pulled their wands out and lit them for some kind of light.

Harry and Hermione whispered to themselves about where the tunnel would come out, but Anna didn't care to listen, she just kept up a quick pace.

This tunnel was easily as long as the one to Honeydukes, and after a while it began to rise and twist. Finally, Anna saw a patch of dim light through a small opening. They crept out, panting, into a very disordered, dusty room. Paper was peeling from the walls, stains were all over the floor, every piece of furniture was broken as if someone smashed it, and the windows were all boarded up.

Anna managed to peak out a crack between boards on the nearest window, catching a glimpse of a familiar wizarding village the same moment Hermione whispered, "I think we're in the Shrieking Shack."

There was a creak overhead and Anna glanced up before looking back down at the ground. Everything was covered in a thick layer of dust except for a wide stripe on the ground that cut through it like a chasm. That was clearly the trail from her dad dragging Ron.

"Guys." Anna hissed quietly, pointing at the trial. Leading the way quickly and silently, Anna followed the trail into the hall and up a crumbling staircase. When they reached the dark landing, Anna muttered, "Nox." and the light on her wand went out. She heard Harry and Hermione follow her lead behind her.

Out of all the rooms on this floor, only one door was open. As they crept closer, Anna heard a low moan and what sounded like a quiet purring. Anna stepped inside, moving to one side so Harry and Hermione could follow her in.

Crookshanks was sitting on a magnificent, yet dust-covered, four-poster bed. On the floor beside him was Ron, clutching his broken leg, which was sticking out at a strange angle. Harry and Hermione rushed over to him, their worried words washing over Anna as her eyes fixed on something else.

She saw large paw prints in the dust, leaving where Ron was sitting. Her eyes followed them, and the paw prints turned to human foot prints.

"Ron, are you okay?"

"Where's the dog?"

"Not a dog." Ron moaned. "Harry, it's a trap-"

"What-"

Anna's eyes landed on the door, which was almost against the wall, but she could see a foot peaking out from behind it.

"He's the dog…he's an Animagus…"

The door suddenly swung shut with a _SNAP_ , revealing the man hidden in the shadows behind it. Anna stared at the man, whom she hadn't seen in person since he broke into the common room, and hadn't properly spoken to since her third year. His filthy, matted hair still hung to his waist, his eyes were dark and empty, skin waxy and stretched over his cheek bones like a skull, and his yellow teeth were in a crazed grin.

" _Expelliarmus_!" he croaked, holding out what looked like Ron's wand.

Anna's wand flew from her hand, as did the others', and Sirius caught all of them. He took a step closer, his eyes fixed on Harry, who Anna glanced nervously at.

"I thought you'd come and help your friend." he said, his voice scratchy as if he hadn't used it in years. "Your father would've done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful…it will make everything much easier…"

Harry took an angry step forward, but Hermione and Ron both grabbed his arms and Anna moved closer to the other kids. "No, Harry!" Hermione told him.

Ron spoke directly to Sirius. "If you want to kill Harry, you'll have to kill us, too!" He stood upright, but the color instantly drained from his face and he swayed slightly at he spoke.

Something flickered in Sirius's shadowed eyes. "Lie down. You will damage that leg even more." he said quietly.

Anna instantly relaxed. She could see the concern in her dad's eyes, and hear it in his voice.

"Did you hear me?" Ron asked weakly, though he was clinging to Harry's arm to stay upright. "You'll have to kill all three of us!"

"There'll be only one murder here tonight." Sirius's grin suddenly widened. His statement left Anna confused for a moment, scared of his crazed expression, but she realized he probably meant Pettigrew.

"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of his friends' hold, "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those muggles to get at Pettigrew…what's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?"

"Harry! Be quiet!" Hermione whimpered as Anna moved to stand partially in front of Harry as a precaution.

"HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" Harry suddenly broke free and lunged forward, knocking Anna out of the way. One of his hands grabbed Sirius's wrist to force the wand tips away while his other fist slammed into the side of Sirius's head. They fell into the wall with a dull thud.

Hermione was screaming and Ron was yelling. There were blinding flashes as the wands sent up flashes and sparks. Anna lunged forward and tried to separate the two wizards as Harry continued to throw punches. She tried pulling him off by his shoulders, but he wouldn't budge.

"No. I've waited too long-" Sirius hissed, his free hand grabbing Harry's throat to try and get him off. Hermione kicked Sirius and he released Harry's throat and Ron threw himself down on Sirius' wand hand, causing the wands to roll. Harry lunged for his own wand, but Crookshanks leapt over and sank his front claws into Harry's arm. Harry managed to throw him off, but the persistent cat went for the wand again.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Harry shouted, aiming a kick at the cat, who leapt away, spitting. Harry snatched his wand up and turned back to Sirius and the others.

"Get out of the way!"

Hermione, whose lip was bleeding, grabbed the other wands and scrambled away. Ron crawled back to the bed and collapsed onto it, panting and white with a tinge of green in the face.

Sirius was sprawled at the bottom of the wall, his bony chest rising and falling rapidly as Harry slowly approached. He had an angry bruise around his left eye and his nose was bleeding. But Anna couldn't stand by and watch Harry kill her father.

Scrambling from her knees to her feet, Anna stepped forward to put herself between Harry and Sirius.

The anger in Harry's face flickered with surprise. "Anna, get out of the way."

"No." she whispered, shaking her head. "Harry, you don't know the whole story. He didn't kill your parents."

"Are you serious?" Harry snapped in disbelief. "I get that he's your father, but…He may not have raised his wand at them, but he sold them to Voldemort. That's all there is to it."

"No, Harry, please, you've got to hear me out!" Anna begged. "I've spent this past school year looking into everything, I know the story now. Please, just hear me out, or even better, he could tell you what happened that night himself. But I'm begging you, Harry, please just listen."

"She's right." Sirius croaked from behind Anna, but she didn't take her eyes off Harry. "You've got to listen to me." he continued with a note of urgency in his voice. "You'll regret it if you don't…you don't understand…"

"I understand more than you think." Harry snapped, glaring down at Sirius with pure hatred in his green eyes. "You never heard her, did you? My mum…trying to stop Voldemort killing me…and you did that…you did it…"

Anna was about to plead again, when Crookshanks streaked past Harry and Anna, and leapt into Sirius' chest, settling right over his heart. Anna finally looked away from Harry, looking down at the fluffy cat perched on her father's chest. Sirius blinked and looked at the cat.

"Get off." he murmured quietly, trying to push the cat off. Crookshanks wouldn't budge, sinking his claws into Sirius' robes. He looked up at Harry with his ugly, squashed face and big, yellow eyes. Hermione gave a dry sob, and Anna's face softened.

Their silence was broken by footsteps echoing from the floor below them.

"WE'RE UP HERE!" Hermione suddenly screamed, "WE'RE UP HERE-SIRIUS BLACK- _QUICK_!"

Sirius flinched as the footsteps began thundering up the stairs. Suddenly, the door burst open in a shower of red sparks. Everyone spun around as Professor Lupin hurtled into the room with his wand raised. Anna watched as his eyes flickered over Ron, Hermione, Harry, and finally landed on Anna and Sirius.

" _Expelliarmus_!" he shouted, and all wands flew into his hand. He stared down at Sirius, who still had Crookshanks on his chest.

When Lupin finally spoke, his voice shook with suppressed emotion. "Where is he, Sirius?"

Anna knew who he was asking about, but she turned to look at her father to see what he would say or do. His face was expressionless, and he didn't move for a few seconds. Then, slowly, he raised his hand and pointed a shaking finger at Ron. Anna followed his pointing to see Harry do the same, and Ron looked completely bewildered, which made sense.

Lupin nodded once before turning back to Sirius. "So, you weren't the Secret Keeper?"

Sirius shook his head, only allowing a tiny amount of his relief to be visible.

"You switched without telling me?" Lupin asked, his voice guarded though Anna could tell he was hurt.

Sirius slowly nodded, his sunken gaze not leaving Lupin's face.

"Professor, what going on-?" Harry suddenly cut off when Lupin lowered his wand. Then, he approached Sirius, seized his hand, pulled him to his feet so Crookshanks fell to the floor, and embraced Sirius like a brother. Anna smiled. The moment would've been touching under better circumstances.

"I DON'T BELIEVE IT!" Hermione screamed, causing Anna to jump. Lupin released Sirius and turned to her. Hermione had pulled herself from the floor and was standing, pointing at Lupin with wide eyes. "You-you-"

"Hermione-"

"-you and him!"

"Hermione, calm down-"

"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you-"

Anna's brows furrowed in confusion. _'What's she talking about?'_

"Hermione, listen to me, please! I can explain-" Lupin shouted over her.

Harry shouted in a wavering voice that made Anna wince, "I trusted you, and all this time you've been his friend!"

"You're wrong. I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now. Let me explain…"

"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead, too- _he's a werewolf!_ "

A horrible silence fell over the room as everyone turned to stare to Lupin, who looked calm but his face was paler than usual. Anna stared at him with wide, shocked eyes.

"Not at all up to your usual standard, Hermione. Only one out of three, I'm afraid. I have not been helping Sirius get into the castle and I certainly don't want Harry dead…" an odd sort of shiver passed over his face before he continued, "But I won't deny that I am a werewolf."

Ron suddenly made a valiant effort to get up again, but he fell back on the bed with a whimper of pain. Lupin moved toward him, looking concerned, but Ron gasped out, " _Get away from me, werewolf!_ "

"Ron!" Anna snapped, gaping at the redhead.

"Don't look at me like that!" Ron snapped, "You're just as bad! You're probably in on it, too! You know about that stupid map, you know all the secret passages! You probably helped him!"

"I _did not_!" Anna exclaimed, her voice cracking as she stared at him in disbelief. "I would never help someone into the castle without knowing everything that was going on. And anyway, if you would all hear us out, you'd know my father is innocent!"

Silence met her words as Harry, Ron, and Hermione stared at her with a mixture of disbelief and horror.

Lupin cleared his throat, looking at Hermione. "How long have you known about me?"

Hermione swallowed before whispering, "Ages. Since I did Professor Snape's essay…"

"He'll be delighted." Lupin stated coolly. "He assigned that essay hoping someone would realize what my symptoms meant…Did you check the lunar chart and realize that I was always ill at the full moon?"

Anna's brows rose as she connected the dots. Moony. Sick on the full moon. Werewolf. _'Duh. I'm an idiot._ '

"Or did you realize that the boggart changed into the moon when it saw me?"

"Both." Hermione answered quietly.

Lupin gave a forced laugh. "You're the cleverest witch of your age I've ever met, Hermione."

"I'm not. If I'd been a bit cleverer, I'd have told everyone what you are!"

"But they already know. At least, the staff do."

"Dumbledore hired you when he knew you were a werewolf? If he mad?" Ron gasped in horror.

"Some of the staff thought so. He had to work very hard to convince certain teachers that I'm trustworthy-"

"AND HE WAS WRONG! YOU'VE BEEN HELPING HIM ALL THE TIME!" Harry yelled, pointing at Sirius, who suddenly crossed the room to the four-poster bed and sank onto it, hiding his face in his shaking hand. Crookshanks leapt up beside him and stepped onto his lap, purring. Ron edged away from them slowly, dragging his leg with him.

"I have not been helping Sirius, and neither has Anna. If you'll give us a chance, we'll explain. Look-" he tossed each wand back to its owner. Anna caught hers easily and glanced at the others, who looked surprised. "There," Lupin stuck his own wand back in his belt, "you're armed, we're not. Now will you listen?"

"If you haven't been helping him," Harry sent a furious look to Sirius, "how did you know he was here?"

"The map. The Marauders' Map. I was in my office examining it-"

"You know how to work it?" Harry cut in.

"Of course I know how to work it." Lupin waved his hand impatiently. "I helped write it. I'm Moony-that was my friends' nickname for me in school."

"You _wrote_ -?"

"Yes, he wrote it!" Anna snapped impatiently, "As did my dad, your dad, and Pettigrew!" she told him, earning a shocked expression from Harry. Lupin rested his hand on Anna's shoulder to calm her down.

"The important thing is, I was watching it carefully this evening, because I had an idea that you four might try and sneak out of the castle to visit Hagrid before his hippogriff was executed. And I was right, wasn't I?" Lupin removed his hand from Anna's shoulder as he started to pace, looking between the four children. Little clouds of dust rose around his pacing feet. "You might have been wearing your father's old Cloak, Harry-"

"How'd you know about the Cloak?" Harry interrupted.

"The number of times I saw James disappearing under it…" he waved his hand impatiently once again as Anna wondered what kind of cloak they were talking about. "The point is, even if you're wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you still show up on the Marauders' Map."

"You have an _Invisibility Cloak_?!" Anna stared at Harry with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open.

"Later." Lupin told her sternly. "Anyway, I watched you cross the grounds and enter Hagrid's hut, Anna was already sitting in the pumpkin patch with Buckbeak. Twenty minutes later, you three left Hagrid's and set off back toward the castle. But you were now accompanied by someone else."

"Well, yeah, Anna." Hermione answered as if it were obvious.

"No, Annabelle followed a few minutes later." Lupin shook his head.

"Then it was just us three!" Harry argued.

"I couldn't believe my eyes." Lupin continued pacing, ignoring Harry. "I know you told me you saw him on the map, but to see it with my own two eyes…" Lupin added with a glance at Anna.

"No one was with us!" Harry exclaimed.

"And then I saw another dot, moving fast toward you, labeled _Sirius Black_ …I saw him collide with you; I watched as he pulled two of you into the Whomping Willow-"

"One of us!" Ron interrupted angrily.

"No, Ron. Two of you." Lupin stopped pacing, his eyes moving over Ron's body. "Do you think I could have a look at the rat?" he asked evenly.

"What? What's Scabbers got to do with it?"

"Everything. Could I see him, please?"

Ron hesitated, then he slowly reached into his robes and pulled out a thrashing Scabbers. Ron almost dropped him a couple times, so he settled for grabbing the rat's long tail to keep him from escaping. Crookshanks stood up on Sirius' leg and hissed quietly while Lupin moved closer, holding his breath and staring intently at the rat.

"What?" Ron demanded, holding Scabbers close and looking scared. "What's my rat got to do with anything?"

"That's not a rat." Sirius croaked, glaring over at the rodent.

"What d'you mean-of course he's a rat-"

"No, he's not. He's a wizard." said Lupin.

"An Animagus," Sirius added, "by the name of Peter Pettigrew."

There was a few seconds of silence, and Anna fully expected the reaction they received.

"You're both mental." Ron stated.

"Ridiculous!" Hermione breathed.

"Peter Pettigrew's _dead_!" Harry snapped, " _He_ killed him twelve years ago!" he argued, pointing at Sirius, whose face twitched convulsively.

"I meant to," he growled, his yellow teeth bared, "but little Peter got the better of me…not this time, though!"

Crookshanks was thrown to the floor as Sirius lunged at Scabbers. Ron yelled from the pain as Sirius's weight fell on his broken leg.

"Sirius, NO!" Lupin launched himself forward and dragged Sirius off of Ron. "WAIT! You can't do it just like that-they need to understand-we've got to explain-"

"We can explain afterwards!" Sirius snarled, trying to throw Lupin off. His voice made Anna flinch as she stood back, unsure of what to do.

"They've-got-a-right-to-know-everything!" Lupin panted, trying to restrain his friend. "Ron's kept him as a pet! There are parts of it even I don't understand! Anna's spent the better part of this year trying to prove you innocent, so fill in the details for her! And Harry-you owe Harry the truth, Sirius!"

Sirius stopped struggling, but his hollowed eyes were fixed intently on Scabbers, who was clamped tightly under Ron's bitten, scratched, and bleeding hands.

"Alright, then. Tell them whatever you like. But make it quick, Remus. I want to commit the murder I was imprisoned for…"

Anna winced again.

"You're nutters, both of you." Ron stated shakily, looking at his friends for support. "I've had enough of this. I'm off."

He tried to heave himself up onto his good leg, but Anna blocked the door and Lupin raised his wand to point it at Scabbers.

"You're going to hear us out, Ron. Just keep a tight hold on Peter while you listen."

"HE'S NOT PETER, HE'S SCABBERS!" Ron yelled, trying to force the rat into his front pocket, but Scabbers was fighting too hard. Ron swayed and Harry caught him and pushed him back onto the bed.

"Are you kidding me?" Anna snapped. "Magic exists, you've all seen some pretty impossible things in your lives, is it really so impossible for Pettigrew to be an Animagus?"

"There were witnesses who saw Pettigrew die." Harry argued, looking between Lupin and Anna. "A whole street full of them…"

"They didn't see what they thought they saw!" Sirius said savagely, still keeping his eyes on Scabbers.

"Everyone thought Sirius killed Peter. I believed it myself-until Anna came to me and told me what she had figured out. And that she'd seen Pettigrew on the map. And then I saw him for myself tonight. The Marauder's Map never lies…Peter's alive. Ron's holding him, Harry."

When Hermione spoke, her voice trembled, "But Professor Lupin…Scabbers can't be Pettigrew…it just can't be true, you know it can't…"

"Why can't it be true?" Lupin asked calmly, as if they were in class.

"Because…because people would _know_ if Peter Pettigrew had been an Animagus. We did Animagi in class with Professor McGonagall. And I looked them up when I did my homework-the Ministry of Magic keeps tabs on witches and wizards who can become animals; there's a register showing what animal they become, and their markings and things…and I went and looked Professor McGonagall up on the register, and there have been only seven Animagi this century, and Pettigrew's name wasn't on the list."

"But there is such a thing as being an unregistered Animagus, Hermione." Anna pointed out. "After all, you didn't see my dad on the list, did you?"

"Exactly." Lupin nodded, "The Ministry never knew that there used to be three unregistered Animagi running around Hogwarts."

"If you're going to tell them the story, get a move on, Remus." Sirius snarled impatiently, still watching Scabbers, "I've waited twelve years, I'm not going to wait much longer."

"Alright…but you'll need to help me, Sirius. I only know how it began…" Lupin stopped speaking when they all heard a loud creak. The bedroom door had opened on its own. Anna jumped and instinctively stepped away from it while everyone stared. Lupin approached it and looked out onto the landing. "No one there…"

"This place is haunted!" Ron exclaimed nervously.

"It's not." Lupin answered, examining the door with a puzzled look. "The Shrieking Shack was never haunted…the screams and howls the villagers used to hear were made by me." Lupin pushed his gray-flecked hair from his eyes and thought for a moment. "That's where all of this starts-with my becoming a werewolf. None of this could have happened it I hadn't been bitten…and if I hadn't been so foolhardy…"

Ron opened his mouth to interrupt, but Anna hissed a sharp, "Shh!" while Hermione slapped her hand over his mouth without moving her eyes from Lupin's face.

"I was a very small boy when I received the bite. My parents tried everything, but in those days there was no cure. The potion Professor Snape has been making for me is a very recent discovery. It makes me safe, you see. As long as I take it in the week preceding the full moon, I keep my mind when I transform…I am able to curl up in my office, a harmless wolf, and wait for the moon to wane again.

"Before the Wolfsbane Potion was discovered, however, I became a fully fledged monster once a month. It seemed impossible that I would be able to come to Hogwarts. Other parents weren't likely to want their children exposed to me.

"But then Dumbledore became Headmaster, and he was sympathetic. He said that as long as we took certain precautions, there was no reason I shouldn't come to school…" Lupin sighed and looked over at Harry, "I told you, months ago, that the Whomping Willow was planted the year I came to Hogwarts. The truth is that it was planted because I came to Hogwarts. This house," he looked miserably around room, "the tunnel that leads to it-they were built for my use. Once a month, I was smuggled out of the castle, into this place, to transform. The tree was placed at the tunnel mouth to stop anyone coming across me while I was dangerous.

"My transformations in those days were-were terrible. It is very painful to turn into a werewolf. I was separated from humans to bite, so I bit and scratched myself instead. The villagers heard the noise and the screaming and thought they were hearing particularly violent spirits. Dumbledore encouraged the rumor…even now, when the house has been silent for years, the villagers don't dare approach it…

"But apart from my transformations, I was happier than I had ever been in my life. For the first time ever, I had friends, three great friends. Sirius Black…Peter Pettigrew…and, of course, your father, Harry-James Potter.

"Now, my three friends could hardly fail to notice that I disappeared once a month. I made up all sorts of stories. I told them my mother was ill, and that I had to go home to see her…I was terrified they would desert me the moment they found out what I was."

Anna could relate. She'd been afraid her friends would ditch her at the start of the year when word got out that Sirius Black was her father, and then when she thought he was innocent.

"But of course, they, like you, Hermione, worked out the truth…And they didn't desert me at all. Instead, they did something for me that would make my transformations not only bearable, but the best times of my life. They became Animagi."

"My dad, too?" Harry asked with wide, shocked eyes.

"Yes, indeed. It took them the best part of three years to work out how to do it. Your father and Sirius here were the cleverest students in the school, and lucky they were, because the Animagus transformation can go horribly wrong-one reason the Ministry keeps a close watch on those attempting to do it. Peter needed all the help he could get from James and Sirius. Finally, in our fifth year, they managed it. They could each turn into a different animal at will."

"But how did that help you?" Hermione asked curiously.

"They couldn't keep me company as humans, so they kept me company as animals. A werewolf is only a danger to people. They sneaked out of the castle every month under James's Invisibility Cloak. They transformed…Peter, as the smallest, could slip beneath the Willow's attacking branches and touch the knot that freezes it. They would then slip down the tunnel and join me. Under their influence, I became less dangerous. My body was still wolfish, but my mind seemed to become less so while I was with them."

"Hurry up, Remus." Sirius snarled impatiently.

"I'm getting there, Sirius, I'm getting there…well, highly exciting possibilities were open to us now that we could all transform. Soon we were leaving the Shrieking Shack and roaming the school grounds and the village by night. Sirius and James transformed into such large animals, they were able to keep a werewolf in check. I doubt whether any Hogwarts students ever found out more about the Hogwarts grounds and Hogsmeade than we did…And that's how we came to write the Marauder's Map, and sign it with our nicknames. Sirius is Padfoot. Peter is Wormtail. James was Prongs."

"What sort of animal-" Harry started, only to be cut off by Hermione.

"That was still really dangerous! Running around in the dark with a werewolf! What if you'd given the others the slip, and bitten somebody?"

"A thought that still haunts me." Remus assured her, "And there were near misses, many of them. We laughed about them afterwards. We were young, thoughtless-carried away with our own cleverness.

"I sometimes felt guilty about betraying Dumbledore's trust, of course…he had admitted me to Hogwarts when no other headmaster would have done so, and he had no idea I was breaking the rules he had set down for my own and others' safety. He never knew I had led three fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally. But I always managed to forget my guilty feelings every time we sat down to plan our next months adventure. And I haven't changed…" Lupin's expression hardened, self-disgust filling his voice. "All this year, I have been battling with myself, wondering whether I should tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an Animgus. But I didn't do it. Why? Because I was too cowardly. It would have meant admitting that I'd betrayed his trust while I was at school, admitting that I'd led others along with me…and Dumbledore's trust has meant everything to me. He let me into Hogwarts as a boy, and he gave me a job when I have been shunned all my adult life, unable to find paid work because of what I am. And so I convinced myself that Sirius was getting into the school using Dark Arts he learned from Voldemort, that being an Animagus had nothing to do with it…so, in a way, Snape's been right about me all along."

"Snape?" Sirius cut in sharply, finally taking his eyes off Scabbers for the first time to look up at Lupin. "What's Snape got to do with it?"

"He's here, Sirius. He's teaching here as well." Lupin told him.

"That slime ball is teaching my daughter?" Sirius snarled, tensing up.

"He _does_ have a particular hatred for me and Harry." Anna admitted.

Lupin nodded with a small, slightly bitter smile. "Professor Snape was at school with us. He fought very hard against my appointment to the Defense Against the Dark Arts job. He has been telling Dumbledore all year that I am not to be trusted. He has his reasons…you see, Sirius here played a trick on him which nearly killed him, a trick which involved me-"

Sirius made a derisive noise. "It served him right." he sneered, "Sneaking around, trying to find out what we were up to…hoping he could get us expelled…"

"Severus was very interested in where I went every month. We were in the same year, you know, and we-er-didn't like each other very much. He especially disliked James. Jealous, I think, of James's talent on the Quidditch field…anyway, Snape had seen me crossing the grounds with Madam Pomfrey one evening as she led me toward the Whomping Willow to transform. Sirius thought it would be-er-amusing, to tell Snape all he had to do was prod the knot on the tree trunk with a long stick, and he'd be able to get in after me. Well, of course, Snape tried it-if he'd got as far as this house, he'd have met a fully grown werewolf-but your father, who'd heard what Sirius had done, went after Snape and pulled him back, at great risk to his life…Snape glimpsed me, though, at the end of the tunnel. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to tell anybody, but from that time on he knew what I was…"

"So that's why Snape doesn't like you," Harry stated slowly, "because he thought you were in on the joke?"

"That's right." a familiar voice sneered from near the wall behind Lupin. Anna jumped as Snape pulled an Invisibility Cloak off and pointed his wand at Lupin

Hermione screamed in shock, Sirius leapt to his feet, and Harry jumped in shock.

"I found this at the base of the Whomping Willow." Snape announced, throwing the cloak aside, his wand still at Lupin's chest. Anna would've been tempted to stare at the Invisibility Cloak under different circumstances. "Very useful, Potter, I thank you…" he was breathless, but expression was one of suppressed triumph that made Anna sick to her stomach. "You're wondering, perhaps, how I knew you were here?" he asked, his black eyes glittering, "I've just been to your office, Lupin. You forgot to take your potion tonight, so I took a gobletful along. And very lucky I did…lucky for me, I mean. Lying on your desk was a certain map. One glance at it told me all I needed to know. I saw you running along this passageway and out of sight."

"Severus-"

Snape cut Lupin off, "I've told the headmaster again and again that you're helping our old friend Black into the castle, Lupin, and here's the proof. Not even I dreamed you would have the nerve to use this old place as your hideout-"

"Severus, you're making a mistake. You haven't heard everything-I can explain- Sirius is not here to kill Harry-" Lupin argued urgently.

"Two more for Azkaban tonight." Snape said, eyes gleaming maniacally. "I shall-"

"No!" Anna shouted, stepping forward, her wand clutched tightly in her hand. "My dad's innocent! He didn't do what they said he did! We have the proof-"

"Hm, maybe three for Azkaban." Snape cut in thoughtfully, his lips curling coldly, "Perhaps if you're lucky, they'll put you in a cell next to your father for conspiring with a fugitive."

"You fool." Lupin said softly, "Is a schoolboy grudge worth putting an innocent man back inside Azkaban?"

 _BANG_

Thin ropes shot from Snape's wand and snaked around Lupin's mouth, wrists, and ankles. He overbalanced and toppled to the floor with a dull thud. Anna instinctively fell to her knees next to him and tried pulling the ropes off him while her father practically roared with rage. He started toward Snape, but the slimy man turned his wand toward Sirius.

"Give me a reason." Snape whispered, "Give me a reason to do it, and I swear I will." Sirius stopped, but both men glared at each other with looks of pure hatred.

Harry and Ron looked between the two men, confused. Scabbers was still struggling in Ron's hands. Hermione took an uncertain step forward.

"Professor Snape-it-it wouldn't hurt to hear what they've got to say, w-would it?"

"Miss Granger, you are already facing suspension from this school." Snape spat. "You, Potter, Weasley, and Black are out-of-bounds, in the company of a convicted murderer and a werewolf. For once in your life, _hold your tongue_."

"But if-if there was a mistake-"

"KEEP QUIET, YOU STUPID GIRL!" Snape shouted, looking completely deranged, "DON'T TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!"

"Wow, scream at a child, Snape." Anna snapped before she could stop herself, standing up after she gave up untying the impossible knots on the ropes. "It's sad how immature you are in regards to some childhood incidents-"

"Shut it, you arrogant brat! You're just like your father." Snape snapped.

"I'll take that as a compliment, thanks." Anna sneered at him, feeling the roots of her hair turning red the more she looked at this man.

"As long as this boy brings his rat up to the castle," Sirius cut in, jerking his head toward Ron, "I'll come quietly…"

"Up to the castle?" Snape asked silkily, a voice that gave Anna the creeps, "I don't think we need to go that far. All I have to do is call the dementors once we get out of the Willow. They'll be very pleased to see you, Black…pleased enough to give you a little Kiss, I daresay…"

Anna felt a sick bile rise in her throat as she turned to look at her dad. The little color remaining left his face.

"You-you've got to hear me out." he croaked desperately, "The rat-look at the rat-"

But the mad glint visible in Snape's eyes made it clear he was beyond reason. He wouldn't listen to anything other than getting revenge on Anna's father.

"Come on, all of you." Snape clicked his fingers and the ends of Lupin's ropes flew into his hand. "I'll drag the werewolf. Perhaps the dementors will have a Kiss for him, too-"

But Snape was cut off as Harry crossed the room and blocked the door. Anna stared at him in shock for a moment before moving to stand next to him, staring up at Snape defiantly.

"Get out of the way, both of you." Snape snarled, "You're in enough trouble as it is."

"You're pathetic." Harry snapped, "Just because they all made a fool of you in school, you won't even listen-"

"SILENCE! I WILL NOT BE SPOKEN TO LIKE THAT!" Snape shrieked, looking crazed. "Like father, like son, Potter! I just saved your neck; you should be thanking me on bended knee! You would have been well served if he'd killed you!" Anna's hand clenched around her wand, her hair an angry red that rivaled the Weasleys as she glared up at Snape. "You'd have died like your father, too arrogant to believe you might be mistaken in Black. Now get out of my way or-"

Anna's nerves snapped and before she could think things through, she'd raised her wand and pointed it at Snape.

" _Expelliarmus!_ " she yelled, but her voice wasn't alone. There was a loud blast that made the walls shake as Snape flew into the air and slammed into the wall. He slid down to the floor, a trickle of blood dripping down from under his hair. He was unconscious.

Glancing around the room, Anna realized Harry, Ron, and Hermione had also raised their wands to disarm Snape. His wand flew in an arc to land on the bed next to Crookshanks.

"You shouldn't have done that." Anna looked up to see her father looking between her and Harry. "You should have left him to me…"

"Yeah, 'cause that would've look good. An escaped convict attacking a teacher who was _supposedly_ protecting four students." Anna stated sarcastically.

"We attacked a teacher…We attacked a teacher." Hermione was whimpering over and over, staring down at Snape with a terrified expression. "Oh, we're going to be in so much trouble-"

Lupin was struggling to get free of his ropes, so Sirius hurried over and managed to untie the ropes. Lupin stood up, rubbing his arms where the ropes had cut into them.

"Thank you." Lupin said to both Anna and Harry.

"I'm still not saying I believe you."

"Then how about we get some actual proof?" Anna suggested.

Sirius nodded once before turning to Ron. "You, boy-give me Peter. Now."

Ron clutched his rat to his chest.

"Come off it." he said weakly. "Are you trying to say he broke out of Azkaban just to get his hands on _Scabbers_? I mean…" He looked at Harry and Hermione for support, "Okay, say Pettigrew could turn into a rat-there are millions of rats-how's he supposed to know which one he's after if he was locked up in Azkaban?"

"You know, Sirius, that's a fair question." Lupin turned to his friend and frowned slightly. "How _did_ you find out where he was?"

To Anna's surprise, her father reached into his robes and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper, which he smoothed flat to show the others. It was the photo from the _Daily Prophet_ of the Weasley family in Egypt. And of course, Scabbers was perched on Ron's shoulder.

"Where did you get that?" Anna asked curiously.

"Fudge." Sirius answered, looking at her before looking at Lupin. "When he came to inspect Azkaban last year, he gave me his paper. And there was Peter, on the front page…on this boy's shoulder…I knew him at once…how many times had I seen him transform? And the caption said the boy would be going back to Hogwarts…to where Harry was…And…and I saw the story a few pages back…about my daughter…and her trial." he added quietly, glancing painfully at his daughter. Anna's chest lurched as she remembered what article he was talking about.

"Oh, yeah. That." she whispered, looking at her feet.

Lupin quietly took the paper from Sirius and looked down at the photo. "My God." he whispered, "Belle, you were right. His front paw. So he really did cut it off himself?"

"Just before he transformed." Sirius nodded. "When I cornered him, he yelled for the whole street to hear that I'd betrayed Lily and James. Then, before I could curse him, he blew apart the street with the wand behind his back, killed everyone within twenty feet of himself-and sped down into the sewer with the other rats…"

"Didn't you ever hear, Ron?" Lupin asked. "The biggest bit of Peter they found was his finger."

"Scabbers probably got in a fight with another rat or something! He's been in my family for ages-"

"Twelve years, Ron." Anna cut in, "That's how long ago Pettigrew disappeared. I already told you, rats can't live that long."

"We-we've been taking good care of him!" Ron insisted.

"Not looking too good at the moment, though, is he?" asked Lupin, "I'd guess he's been losing weight ever since he heard Sirius was on the loose again…"

"He's been scared of that mad cat!" Ron insisted, pointing at Crookshanks, who was still purring on the bed.

"That's not what Fred and George said." Anna pointed out. "He's been like that since you were in Egypt. Around the time my father escaped."

"And this cat isn't mad." Sirius added, reaching his bony hand out to pet Crookshanks on the head. "He's the most intelligent of his kind I've ever met. He recognized Peter for what he was right away. And when he met me, he knew I was no dog. It was a while before he trusted me…Finally, I managed to communicate to him what I was after, and he's been helping me…"

"What do you mean?" Hermione breathed.

"He tried to bring Peter to me, but couldn't…so he stole the passwords into Gryffindor Tower for me…As I understand it, he took them from a boy's bedside table…"

"I knew it." Anna mumbled, looking down at Crookshanks. Everyone turned to stare curiously at her. "Oh, um, sorry. I just kinda thought Crookshanks might be part Kneazle. Forget I said anything. Carry on."

Her father's lips twitched slightly before he turned back to the others. "Anyway, Peter got wind of what was going on and ran for it… This cat-Crookshanks, did you call him?-told me Peter had left blood on the sheets…Well, faking his own death had worked once…"

"And why did he fake his death?" Harry snapped, "Because he knew you were about to kill him like you killed my parents!"

"No, Harry-" Lupin said.

"And now you've come to finish him off!"

"Yes, I have." Sirius gave the rat a dark look.

"Then I should've let Snape take you!" Harry shouted.

"No, Harry listen!" Anna stepped closer, "Only a few people knew, my mother was one of them, that my father wasn't your parents' Secret Keeper. My mother told me it was Peter. They'd switched at the last minute because they suspected a traitor was among them. They thought Peter would be less obvious, that no one would suspect it was him. Everyone would think it was my dad."

Harry was shaking his head, looking at war with himself. "But that…that can't be true. He said, he said he killed them!" he shouted, pointing at Sirius, who was shaking his head with tears shining in his eyes.

"I as good as killed them." he croaked, "I persuaded Lily and James to change to Peter at the last moment, persuaded them to use him as Secret-Keeper instead of me…I'm to blame, I know it…The night they died, I'd arranged to check on Peter, make sure he was still safe, but when I arrived at his hiding place, he'd gone. Yet there was no sign of a struggle. It didn't feel right. I was scared. I set out for your parents' house straightaway. And when I saw their house, destroyed, and their bodies…I realized what Peter must've done…what I'd done…" His voice broke and he turned away. Anna had to fight the urge to go comfort him and assure him it wasn't his fault.

"Enough of this." said Lupin, a steely tone in his voice that Anna had never heard before. "There's one certain way to prove what really happened. Ron, _give me that rat_."

"What are you going to do with him if I give him to you?" Ron asked tensely.

"Force him to show himself. If he's really a rat, it won't hurt him."

Ron hesitated before finally handing Scabbers over to Lupin. The rat began squeaking nonstop and it made Anna's ears twinge. He was twisting and wiggling, his black eyes wild with panic.

"Ready, Sirius?" Lupin asked.

Anna watched her dad grab Snape's wand off the bed and approach Lupin.

"Together?" he asked quietly.

"I think so." Lupin answered. He was holding the rat tightly in one hand, his wand in the other. "On the count of three. One-two-THREE!"

There was a flash of blue-white light from both wands that made Anna blink. Scabbers froze in mid air, his body twisting frantically, which made Ron yell, before the rat fell and hit the floor. There was another flash of light.

It was slightly disturbing to watch. His head started growing, then his limbs sprouted from his body, which swelled to the size of a full-grown man. A moment later, a man was standing where the rat had been. He was cringing and wringing his hands.

He was very short, shorter than Anna for sure, and she was an average height for her age. His thin hair was colorless and unkempt with a large bald spot on top. He looked like he may have been plump at one time, but it seemed he'd lost a lot of weight rather quickly. His skin was grubby, and some rat-like features remained, making it easy for Anna to see why his Animagus was a rat. He had a pointed nose and very small, watery eyes. Anna tightened her grip on her wand when she saw his beady eyes dart to the door.

"Well, hello, Peter." said Lupin coolly, "Long time, no see."

"S-Sirius…R-Remus…" Even his voice was squeaky like a rat. "My old friends…"

Sirius raised his wand, but Lupin grabbed his wrist and gave him a warning look before turning to Pettigrew.

"We've been having a little chat, Peter, about the night Lily and James died."

"Remus," Pettigrew gasped, beads of sweat appearing rapidly on his face, "you don't believe him, do you…? He tried to kill me, Remus…"

"So we've heard." said Lupin coldly, "I'd like to clear up one or two little matters with you, Peter, if you'd be so-"

"He's come to try and kill me again!" Pettigrew squeaked suddenly, using his middle finger to point at Sirius because his index finger was gone. "He killed Lily and James and now he's going to kill me too…You've got to help me, Remus…"

"No one's going to try and kill you until we've sorted a few things out." Lupin assured him, even as Sirius glared at Pettigrew.

"Sorted things out?" Pettigrew squeaked, his eyes wildly taking in the boarded windows around him in search of an escape. "I knew he'd come after me! I've been waiting for this for twelve years!"

"You knew Sirius was going to break out of Azkaban?" Lupin's brows furrowed, "When nobody has ever done it before?"

"He's got Dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly, "I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"

Sirius let out a cold, mirthless laugh.

"Voldemort, teach me tricks?"

Pettigrew flinched violently as if he were about to be struck.

"What, scared to hear your old master's name?" Sirius taunted him, "I don't blame you Peter. His lot aren't very happy with you, are they?"

"Don't know what you mean, Sirius." Pettigrew muttered, his breathing fast and face shining with sweat.

"You haven't been hiding from _me_ for twelve years. I heard things in Azkaban, Peter…All Voldemort's supporters think you're dead, or you'd have to answer to them. I've heard them screaming all sorts of things in their sleep. They think the double-crosser double-crossed them. Your information sent Voldemort to the Potters', where he met his downfall. And there are plenty of his supporters that didn't end up in Azkaban. There are plenty still out there, pretending they've seen the error of their ways…If they ever got wind that you were still alive, Peter-"

"You don't believe this madness, Remus?" Pettigrew asked in a panicky voice.

"I must admit, Peter, I have difficulty in understanding why an innocent man would want to spend twelve years as a rat." Lupin said evenly.

"Innocent, but scared! If Voldemort's supporters were after me it was because I put one of their best men in Azkaban-the spy, Sirius Black!"

Anna watched as her father's face contorted.

"How dare you." he growled, sounding eerily like the large dog he'd been earlier. "I, spy for Voldemort? When did I ever sneak around people who were stronger and more powerful than myself? But you, Peter-I'll never understand why I didn't see you were the spy from the start. You always liked big friends who'd look after you, didn't you? It used to be us…me and Remus…and James…"

Pettigrew wiped his sweaty face. "Me, a spy…must be out of your mind…"

"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper because I suggested it." Sirius hissed angrily, "I thought it was the perfect plan…a bluff…Voldemort would surely come after me, would never dream they'd use a weak, talentless thing like you…Must've been the finest moment of your miserable life, telling Voldemort you could hand him the Potters."

Pettigrew was mumbling dazedly, his gaze darting around the room.

"Professor Lupin?" Hermione asked timidly, "Can-can I say something?"

"Certainly, Hermione." Lupin answered courteously.

"Well-Scabbers-I mean, this-this man-he's been sleeping in Harry's dormitory for three years. If he's working for You-Know-Who, how come he never tried to hurt Harry before now?"

"There!" Pettigrew said shrilly, "Thank you! You see? I have never hurt a hair on Harry's head! Why should I?"

"I'll tell you why." said Sirius, "Because you don't do anything for anyone unless there was something in it for you. Voldemort's been in hiding for twelve years, they say he's half-dead. You weren't about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore's nose for a wizard who's lost all his power, were you? You'd want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully on the playground before you went back to him, wouldn't you? Why else would you find a wizard family to take you in? Keeping an ear out for news in case your old protector regained strength…"

"Um-Mr. Black-Sirius?" Hermione stuttered.

Sirius jumped at being addressed like this and stared at Hermione as if he'd forgotten what it was like to be spoken to politely. Anna, also, found it strange to hear someone call her father 'Mr. Black'.

"If you don't mind me asking, how-how did you get out of Azkaban, if you didn't use Dark Magic?"

"Thank you!" Pettigrew gasped, nodding frantically, "Exactly what-" but he cut off when Lupin gave him a withering look.

Sirius frowned, seeming to be pondering the question.

"I don't know how I did it." he said slowly, "I think the only reason I never lost my mind was that I knew I was innocent. That wasn't a happy thought, so the dementors couldn't suck it out of me…but it kept me sane and knowing who I am…and when it all became…too much…I could transform in my cell…become a dog. Dementors can't see, you know. They feel their way toward people by sensing their emotions…They could tell my feelings were less human, but they thought I was losing my mind, like everyone else. But I was too weak to drive them away without a wand…

"But then I saw Peter in that picture…I realized he was at Hogwarts with Harry…perfectly positioned to act, if one hint reached his ears that the Dark Side was gathering power…"

Anna was watching Pettigrew as her father spoke. He was shaking his head, mouthing noiselessly, but he was staring at Sirius as if hypnotized.

"…ready to strike at the moment he could be sure of allies…and to deliver the last Potter to them. If he gave them Harry, who'd dare say he'd betrayed Lord Voldemort? He'd be welcomed back with honors…so I had to do something. I was the only one who knew Peter was still alive…

"It was as if someone had lit a fire in my head, and even the dementors couldn't destroy it…It wasn't a happy feeling…it was an obsession…but it gave me strength, cleared my mind. So, one night when they opened my door to bring food, I slipped past them as a dog…I was thin…thin enough to slip through the bars…I swam as a dog back to the mainland…I journeyed north and slipped into the Hogwarts grounds as a dog. I've been living in the forest ever since, except when I came to watch Quidditch, of course. You're both spectacular fliers…"

He stared at Anna for a moment before turning to Harry, and Anna noticed a difference in Harry's gaze as he looked back.

"Believe me." he croaked, "Believe me, Harry. I never betrayed James and Lily. I would have died before I betrayed them."

Harry stared at Sirius for another moment before Anna notice him swallow heavily. Finally, he nodded. Anna's shoulders slumped in relief, feeling as if a hundred pounds had been lifted from her shoulders.

"No!" Pettigrew fell to his knees. He shuffled forward, his hands clasped together desperately. "Sirius-it's me…it's Peter…your friend…you wouldn't…"

Sirius kicked out and Pettigrew recoiled.

"There's enough filth on my robes without you touching them."

"Remus!" Pettigrew seemed desperate to find someone in the room who would stick up for him. "You don't believe this…Wouldn't Sirius have told you they'd changed the plan?"

"Not if they thought I was the spy." said Lupin, glancing over Pettigrew's head to look at Sirius.

"Forgive me, Remus."

"Not at all, Padfoot, old friend." said Lupin as he began rolling up his sleeves. "And will you, in turn, forgive me for believing _you_ were the spy?"

"Of course." Sirius answered, the ghost of a grin appearing on his face, one that Anna recognized from old photos. He, too, began rolling up his sleeves. "Shall we kill him together?"

"Yes, I think so." said Lupin grimly.

Pettigrew scrambled over to Ron.

"Ron…haven't I been a good friend…a good pet? You won't let them kill me, Ron, will you…?"

Ron didn't seem to be paying attention. He was looking down at Pettigrew with a look of absolute revulsion.

"I let you sleep in my _bed_!" he exclaimed.

"Kind boy…kind master…." Pettigrew crawled closer, clinging to Ron's broken leg. "you won't let them do it…I was a good pet…"

"That's not really saying much, that you're a better rat than a human." Anna pointed out.

Sirius fought off a smile, glancing at his daughter. Ron was going paler as the little man clung to his broken leg. Giving up on his old 'master', Pettigrew turned and crawled toward Anna next, much to her dismay.

"Little Annabelle…you look so like your mother…Wren wouldn't want them to kill me…" Pettigrew pleaded, stopping only when he was inches from Anna and her back was pressed to the wall, his hands coming up to clutch her robes.

"Get your filthy hands off my daughter!" Sirius snapped, hurrying over and snatching Pettigrew's hands from her clothes and shoving him away. Sirius stayed in front of Anna, as if shielding her from any other advances. But Pettigrew, ever persistent, moved toward Harry.

"Harry," he whispered, shuffling toward him with hands outstretched, "James wouldn't have wanted me killed…he would have shown me mercy…"

Sirius and Lupin both strode forward and seized Pettigrew's shoulders, throwing him backward on the floor. He trembled with terror as he looked up at two of his former best friends.

"You sold Lily and James to Voldemort." Sirius spat. He was also shaking, but it was with suppressed rage. "Do you deny it?"

Instead of defending himself or begging for mercy, Pettigrew burst into tears. Anna wrinkled her nose. He looked like a big, bald baby. She half expected to find he'd soiled a large diaper.

"Remus, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord…you have no idea…I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. He-he was taking over everywhere! What was there to be gained by refusing him?" he gasped.

"What was there to be gained in fighting the most evil wizard that ever existed?" Sirius repeated, pure rage on his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"

"You don't understand!" Pettigrew whined, "He would have killed me!"

"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" Sirius roared, taking a step closer in his anger, "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!"

Anna sucked in an abrupt, silent breath as she stared at her father, now shoulder-to-shoulder with Professor Lupin. Her mother was right all along. Her father was fiercely loyal and would have died for his friends. If he had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper, there was a good chance they all would have been alive today.

"You should have realized if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would." Lupin announced quietly his wand pointed at Pettigrew, just like Sirius' wand. "Goodbye, Peter."

Hermione covered her face and turned into the wall, but Anna couldn't let this happen.

"Wait!" she shouted, hurrying forward the same moment Harry did.

"You can't kill him." Harry added breathlessly.

Both men looked astounded.

"Harry, this piece of vermin is the reason you have no parents." Sirius snarled.

"I know." Harry panted. "We'll take him up to the castle. We'll hand him over to the dementors…he can go to Azkaban…"

"Right now, he's really the only evidence we've got to prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that you're innocent." Anna added to her father, "If you kill him, they'll send you back to Azkaban, or give you the Dementor's Kiss. But if we take him in, you'll be free. You could come home." she ended on a whisper, looking desperately up at him.

His gray eyes, which matched hers almost perfectly, glistened slightly as he stared back at her. "Home." he repeated in a whisper, giving a single nod. He turned and met Lupin's eyes. After a moment, they both lowered their wands.

"Very well." Lupin nodded. "Stand aside, Harry, Anna."

They hesitated, glancing anxiously at each other and Lupin's wand.

"I'm going to tie him up." Lupin assured them. "That's all, I swear."

Harry and Anna stepped out of the way. Lupin raised his wand and thin ropes shot from the tip so that Pettigrew was soon bound and gagged.

"But if you transform, Peter," Sirius snarled, his wand pointed at Pettigrew, "we will kill you. Anna, Harry, you both agree?"

Anna and Harry both nodded, making a note to do so in a way that Pettigrew could see.

Lupin took charge rather quickly. He used his wand to wrap Ron's leg with a splint and used a spell to hover Snape. As a precaution, Lupin and Ron volunteered to be shackled to Pettigrew to ensure he couldn't escape.

With Crookshanks leading the way with his bottlebrush tail in the air, the group left the room.

 **XXX**

 **Whew! A nice, long chapter for you guys. Hope you all liked it. I tried changing the scene a bit to give Anna more of a part, but it was difficult to do. Let me know what you all thought!**

 **I posted this chapter tonight in honor of the Battle of Hogwarts, which begins in the early morning hours of May 2** **nd** **, but I wouldn't be able to post it tomorrow until later in the evening. I'll post the next chapter on Thursday.**


	13. Have Time, Will Travel

It was like being a part of the strangest parade in the world. Crookshanks lead them all down the stairs of the Shrieking Shack. Lupin, Pettigrew, and Ron were next, looking awkward all chained together. Next was Snape, who looked eerie drifting along with his head lolling limply. He was held up by his own wand, which Sirius was holding. Harry and Hermione were behind him, and Annabelle brought up the rear.

Getting through the tunnel presented a slight challenge. Ron, Pettigrew, and Lupin had to awkwardly walk sideways to fit, but Lupin made sure to keep his wand aimed right at Pettigrew's chest as a precaution. Harry, Hermione, and Anna went right behind Sirius, who wasn't even trying to prevent Snape's head from scraping against the bumpy ceiling.

"You know what this means?" Sirius asked abruptly, glancing over his shoulder at Harry as they slowly made their way through the tunnel. "Turning Pettigrew in?"

"You're free." Harry answered.

"Yes…But I'm also-I don't know if anyone ever told you-I'm your godfather."

"Yeah, I knew that."

"Well,…your parents appointed me your guardian." Sirius announced stiffly. "If anything happened to them…"

Anna could see where this was going and didn't realize she'd started smiling.

"I'll understand, of course, if you want to stay with your aunt and uncle. But…well…think about it. Once my name's cleared…I'm sure Wren would love to have you…if you wanted a…a different home…"

Anna saw Harry's back suddenly straighten, his head perking up.

"What-live with you?" he said, accidentally smacking his head on a rock protruding from the ceiling. Anna flinched at the loud crack and fought back laughter. "Leave the Dursleys?"

"Of course, I thought you wouldn't want to." Sirius said hurriedly. "I understand, I just thought I'd-"

"Are you insane?" asked Harry, his voice suddenly as croaky as Sirius's. "Of course I want to leave the Dursleys! Have you got a house? When can I move in?"

Sirius turned around to look at him, not noticing or caring that Snape's head was scraping the ceiling.

"You want to?" he asked breathlessly, "You mean it?"

"Yeah I mean it!" Harry said.

Anna watched as her dad's gaunt, pale face broke into a beaming smile. It made him look suddenly ten years younger, like the same man in all the photos at home.

They went quiet for a few minutes before Harry looked over his shoulder at Anna.

"Would…would you mind?" he asked hesitantly, his voice a low whisper to give them a little privacy in the small tunnel. "If I came to live with you and your parents?"

Anna's back straightened slightly in surprise. "Why would I have a problem with it?"

"Well, I-I don't know-"

"I'm always bored during the summer because I'm stuck alone all day while my mum's at work. Do you know how often I've wished I wasn't an only child? It'd be great having you around." she answered with complete honesty.

Harry relaxed and smiled again, looking even happier than he had the day they won the Quidditch Cup.

No one spoke again until they reached the end of the tunnel. Crookshanks darted out first, and must've touched the knot on the tree because Ron, Pettigrew, and Lupin were able to get out without being attacked by angry branches. Sirius floated Snape up after them before standing back to allow Harry, Hermione, and Anna to pass. Finally, they were all out.

It wasn't surprising to find it was very dark out now, a light spattering of clouds covering some of the stars in the navy sky. They set off toward the castle without a word. When Anna glanced at Harry, he seemed to be in a daze.

They moved silently across the grounds. The lights in the castle windows were growing bigger and brighter. Then suddenly, a cloud shifted.

Anna noticed their shadows were suddenly more pronounced as they were bathed in silver light. She looked up at the sky to see clouds moving away from the moon.

The full moon.

Lupin went abruptly still, jerking Pettigrew and Ron to a halt and causing Snape to run into their backs. Sirius froze and threw out an arm to stop Harry, Anna, and Hermione.

Lupin's outline was highlighted by the moonlight. He had gone rigid and begun to shake.

Hermione gasped. "He didn't take his potion tonight! He's not safe!"

"Run." Sirius whispered. "Run. Now."

But Anna couldn't move. Harry tried running toward his best friend, who was still chained to Pettigrew and Lupin, but Sirius caught him around the chest and threw him back.

"Leave it to me-RUN!"

Anna stumbled back, but otherwise didn't move. Her eyes were fixed on Lupin as a horrible snarling filled the night air. His head and body was lengthening, his shoulders hunching, hair sprouting on his face and hands, which were curling into clawed paws. As the werewolf reared up, Anna saw her father shrink down into his black dog form. He raced forward and as the werewolf broke free of the manacle, the dog clamped it's jaws around it's neck and yanked it backward, away from Ron and Pettigrew. The two were locked, jaw to jaw, claws ripping at each other.

Movement caught Anna's attention and she saw Pettigrew making a dive for Lupin's wand that had been dropped. Hermione saw the same and screamed. Ron, unbalanced by the sudden pull with his broken leg, fell on the ground.

Anna raised her wand. " _Stupefy_!"

Her spell missed Pettigrew by barely an inch. Then, there was a bang and a burst of light-and Ron lay motionless on the ground. Another bang-Crookshanks flew into the air and landed in a heap.

" _Expelliarmus_!" Harry yelled with his wand pointed at Pettigrew. Lupin's wand flew into the air, but it was too late. Anna and Harry both ran forward, but Pettigrew had transformed into a rat. Anna tried shooting a stunning spell as Pettigrew slipped out of the manacle and scurried out of sight.

There was a howl and Anna turned in time to see the werewolf galloping away into the forest.

"Sirius, he's gone, Pettigrew transformed!" Harry yelled.

Anna took a step toward her father when she saw what state he was in. He was bleeding heavily, gashes were on his muzzle and back. At Harry's words, he scrambled up again and pounded off across the grounds.

Harry and Hermione ran over to Ron. Anna followed a bit slower, scooping Crookshanks into her arms along the way to lay the unconscious, orange cat next to Ron.

"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered worriedly as Anna knelt down next to her. Ron's eyes were half-closed, his mouth hanging open.

"I don't know…" Harry trailed off worriedly.

Anna looked anxiously around the dark grounds around them. Her dad and Lupin were both gone and Snape was still hanging in the air nearby. It was eerie and Anna didn't like it.

"We'd better get up to the castle and tell someone. Maybe Dumbledore." Harry suggested, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Come-"

But then, from somewhere nearby but out of sight, they heard a sharp yelp. A dog whining in pain.

"Dad." Anna whispered. She scrambled to her feet and hurried toward the sound. She could hear Harry and Hermione following close behind. The yelping continued, and Anna thought it sounded like it was coming from the lake. She picked up her pace, running flat out and ignoring the sudden chill that had entered the air.

The sound cut off mid-yelp a few seconds before they reached the lakeside. Anna saw that her father had turned back into a man and was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.

" _Nooo_ …" he moaned, " _Noooo_ … _please_ …"

Anna suddenly recognized the cold at the same moment she looked up and saw them. At least a hundred dementors floating toward them. The familiar coldness was seeping through her skin and into her heart, grief and panic filling her as she looked around frantically. They were closing in from all sides.

"Think of something happy!" Harry suddenly yelled, raising his wand. Anna, wand still in hand from earlier, raised it and tried to shake the familiar, taunting voice that was starting to appear in her head. She tried to focus and listen to what Harry was chanting.

" _Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum!_ "

" _Exp-Expecto-"_ Anna shook her head, trying desperately to think of something happy. But her eyes kept landing on her father. He had rolled onto his back, looking half-dead. She stumbled toward him and fell to her knees at his side. She looked around and saw that Harry and Hermione, who had also moved closer, were both trying the spell. Harry was screaming at the top of his lungs, a small silver wisp leaving his wand, but Hermione had collapsed next to him.

Anna shook her head again. She couldn't think of anything happy enough to help. But there had to be something she could do. There had to be…

She turned and stared intently at her father's face. She felt her own features start changing before the idea fully developed in her mind. Her hair grew longer, darker, and matted. She grew and became skinnier. Her body changed into a clone of her father.

Stumbling to her feet, she tried to think of something happy enough to at least stay upright. She stumbled away from her father, Harry, and Hermione. Harry had fallen to his knees, but he was still fighting. He'd formed a feeble, silver cloud blocking the dementors from Sirius.

She hurried away from them as best she could.

"Over here!" she shouted, waving her hands above her head. "Come and get me!" she shouted again, hurrying away. She glanced over her shoulders when she neared the trees. Some of the dementors had turned to float after her, but not enough to make much of a difference.

"Hey!" she yelled, though her voice was becoming quiet and feeble. "Come…" she stumbled and fell, landing heavily on her hands and knees. The pebbles and grit from the shore cut into her hands. The cold was seeping even deeper, that same, taunting voice echoing louder in her ears.

"No…" she whimpered. Her arms shook and she fell, her cheek hitting the ground and pebbles cutting into her cheek. Her blurry vision could see the black figures closing in on the others. One of them appeared to be hovering right over Harry's face. Just as a black cloak blocked Anna's vision from everything else, she saw a bright light from the opposite bank.

The voices quieted, and the cold was drifting away. The dementors seemed to be leaving. Something was driving them away.

All Anna saw was something silver return to the far bank before her heavy eyes fell shut.

XXX

Anna shivered under her blankets, mumbled words slowly starting to get louder until she could make out specific words.

"…staying here until I'm satisfied you're-Potter, what do you think you're doing?"

Anna scrunched up her face, forcing her eyes to slowly open. She turned her head to look around. Harry was sitting up in the hospital wing bed next to hers, putting his glasses on and picking up his wand.

"I need to see the headmaster." he said.

"Potter," said Madam Pomfrey soothingly, "it's alright. They've got Black. He's locked away upstairs. The dementors will be performing the Kiss any moment now-"

"WHAT?" Anna sat up abruptly, while Harry and Hermione jumped out of their beds. A second later, Minister Fudge and Snape entered the hospital wing.

"Harry, Harry, what is this?" asked Fudge, looking agitated. "You should be in bed-has he had any chocolate?" he asked Madam Pomfrey anxiously.

"Minister, listen!" Harry shouted, "Sirius Black's innocent! Peter Pettigrew faked his own death! We saw him tonight! You can't let the dementors do that thing to Sirius, he's-"

But unfortunately, Fudge was shaking his head with a small smile on his face.

"Harry, you're very confused, you've been through a dreadful ordeal, lie back down, now, we've got everything under control…"

"No, you don't understand!" Anna cut in, scooting up a bit more to sit up straight, "My father's innocent! He didn't kill anyone! Peter Pettigrew is alive! He's an unregistered Animagus, a rat, and he's-"

"Now, now, Ms. Black, I can see your mother's been getting to you. I can assure you there is no way Sirius Black was innocent." Fudge chuckled, shaking his head.

"You see, Minister?" asked Snape, "Confunded, all of them….Black's done a very good job on them…"

"WE'RE NOT CONFUNDED!" Harry roared.

"Minister! Professor!" Madam Pomfrey shouted angrily, "I must insist that you leave. Potter is my patient, and he should not be distressed!"

"I'm not distressed, I'm trying to tell them what happened. If they'd just listen-"

But Madam Pomfrey silenced Harry by stuffing a large chunk of chocolate into his mouth, making him choke. She then took the opportunity to force him back onto the bed.

"Now, _please_ , Minister, these children need care. Please leave-"

The door opened again, and Anna felt some relief at the sight of Dumbledore entering the hospital wing. She pushed her blankets away and swung her legs over the side of her bed.

"Professor Dumbledore, please you've got to listen! My father-"

"For heaven's sake!" Pomfrey shouted hysterically, "Is this a hospital wing or not? Headmaster, I must insist-"

"My apologies, Poppy, but I need a word with Mr. Potter, Ms. Black, and Ms. Granger." said Dumbledore calmly, "I have just been talking to Sirius Black-"

"I suppose he's told you the same fairytale he's planted in Potter's mind?" spat Snape, "Something about a rat, and Pettigrew being alive-"

"That, indeed, is Black's story." said Dumbledore, surveying Snape closely through half-moon spectacles.

"And does my evidence count for nothing?" snarled Snape. "Peter Pettigrew was not in the Shrieking Shack, nor did I see any sign of him on the grounds."

"That's because you were knocked out when everything happened!" Anna insisted, "When you were awake you wouldn't let anyone get a word in-"

"Black, HOLD YOUR TONGUE!"

"Now, Snape," said Fudge, startled, "the young lady is disturbed in her mind, we must make allowances-"

"I would like to speak to Harry, Annabelle, and Hermione alone." said Dumbledore abruptly, "Cornelius, Severus, Poppy-please leave us."

While Pomfrey argued, Anna looked around, noticing for the first time that Ron was unconscious in a hospital wing bed at the far end of the ward.

Dumbledore seemed to have convinced the others to leave, because Pomfrey stormed into her office and slammed the door. Fudge consulted a large gold pocket watch dangling from his waistcoat.

"The dementors should have arrived by now." he said. "I'll go and meet them. Dumbledore, I'll see you upstairs."

He crossed the room and held the door open for Snape, who didn't move. He appeared to have a whispered conversation with Dumbledore that Anna didn't care to listen to. Finally, he left. As soon as they were alone, Anna hurried over and joined Harry and Hermione in bursting into speech at the same time, talking loudly over each other. However, Dumbledore silenced them after a moment by holding up his hand.

"It is your turn to listen, and I beg you will not interrupt me, because there is very little time." he said quietly. "There is not a shred of proof to support Black's story, except your word-and the word of two thirteen-year-olds and one fifteen-year-old will not convince anybody. A street full of eyewitnesses swore they saw Sirius murder Pettigrew. I myself gave evidence to the Ministry that Sirius had been the Potters' Secret-Keeper."

"Professor Lupin can tell you-" Harry started.

"Professor Lupin is currently deep in the forest, unable to tell anyone anything. By the time he is human again, it will be too late, Sirius will be worse than dead."

"My mother could-" Anna tried to speak.

" _Listen to me_. It is too late, you understand me? You must see that Professor Snape's version of events is far more convincing than yours."

"He hates Sirius." Hermione said desperately. "All because of some stupid trick Sirius played on him-"

"Sirius has not acted like an innocent man. The attack on the Fat Lady-entering Gryffindor Tower with a knife-without Pettigrew, alive or dead, we have no chance of overturning Sirius's sentence."

" _But you believe us_."

"Yes, I do." said Dumbledore quietly. "But I have no power to make other men see the truth, or to overrule the Minister of Magic…"

Anna felt sick to her stomach, as if nasty bile were sitting in the back of her throat. Dumbledore believed them, but he couldn't help them. It was her worst nightmare come to life. She was _so close_ to getting her father back, and now it was being snatched back out of her reach. Her dad was being taken away from her permanently. She didn't think she could handle it.

"What we need," Dumbledore said slowly, his voice drawing Anna out of her inner panic as his blue eyes landed on Hermione, "is more _time_."

"But-" Hermione began, only for her eyes to go round. "OH!"

"Now, pay attention." said Dumbledore, speaking lowly and clearly. "Sirius is locked in Professor Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you will be able to save more than one innocent life tonight. But remember this, all of you: _You must not be seen_. Miss Granger, you know the law-you know what is at stake… _You - must - not - be - seen_."

Anna had no idea what he was going on about, but Hermione seemed to. Dumbledore turned on his heel and only looked back when he reached the door.

"I'm going to lock you in. It is-" he checked his watch, "five minutes to midnight. Miss Granger, three turns should do it. Good luck."

"Good luck?" Harry repeated in confusion as Dumbledore closed the door behind him. "Three turns? What's he talking about? What are we supposed to do?"

Anna wasn't really listening to Harry. She was watching Hermione, who was fumbling with the neck of her robes and pulling a long, fine gold chain out of them.

"Anna, Harry, come here." she said urgently. " _Quick!_ "

Harry and Anna approached her in bewilderment. Anna barely caught a glimpse of the tiny, sparkling hourglass hanging from the chain before Hermione threw it around Harry and Anna's necks, too.

"Ready?" she asked breathlessly.

"For what?" Anna demanded, but Hermione didn't answer. She merely turned the tiny hourglass over three times.

The dark hospital wing dissolved around them. Anna felt as if she were flying backwards very fast. Colors and shapes blurred around her, and her ears were pounding.

Then, suddenly, she felt her feet hit solid ground and everything came back into focus.

Anna looked around and found herself standing with Harry and Hermione in the otherwise-empty entrance hall. Shockingly, sunlight was streaming through the open doors when she could've sworn it was nearly midnight!

Harry was looking around wildly, yanking at the chain still around all their necks.

"Hermione, what-?"

"In here!" Hermione grabbed both their arms and dragged them over to a nearby broom closet. She opened it and shoved them inside among the buckets and mops and slammed the door behind herself. Anna got her toes trod on and a broomstick bopped her on the head.

"What-how-Hermione, what happened?" Harry demanded.

"We've gone back in time." Hermione whispered, lifting the chain off Harry and Anna's necks. "Three hours back…"

"What-how?"

"Where did you get that thing?" Anna cut Harry off, looking at the necklace in the darkness.

"It's a Time-Turner," Hermione whispered, "I got it from McGonagall on our first day back. I've been using it all year to get to my lessons. Professor McGonagall made me swear I wouldn't tell anyone. She had to write all sorts of letters to the Ministry of Magic so I could have one. She had to tell them that I was a model student, and that I'd never use it for anything except my studies…I've been turning it back so I could do hours over again, that's how I've been doing several lessons at once, see? But… what does Dumbledore want us to do?" she asked desperately.

Anna thought about it for a moment.

"Well,…theoretically don't people want to go back in time to maybe change something?" she suggested quietly.

"But what happened three hours ago that we could change?" Harry asked thoughtfully, "Dumbledore said we could save two innocent lives."

Anna leaned back against the back wall of the closet, thinking about what she was doing three hours ago, before nine o'clock. She would have been…

"Hagrid's." she said quietly, standing up straight as the other two turned to look at her. "I was at Hagrid's right about now. Buckbeak's execution is soon. We can save Buckbeak."

Harry and Hermione nodded, both perking up at the idea.

"We would've just headed toward Hagrid's ourselves, under the Invisibility Cloak." Hermione added to Harry. "We're probably nearly there. We should get going, but remember we can't be seen, especially not by ourselves. We have to be very careful. We could go around by the greenhouses."

Nodding at the basic plan, the three carefully crept out of the closet, through the deserted entrance hall, and darted down the stone steps. The sun was starting to set, turning the tops of the trees in the Forbidden Forest a golden color. They sped off to a sprint across vegetable gardens to the greenhouses, paused behind them, then sped off again around the Whomping Willow toward the forest. They only stopped when they were safely hidden by the shadows of the trees.

They walked silently through the trees, trying to catch their breath as they did. When they caught a glimpse of Hagrid's hut, they hurried to hide behind a wide oak tree, peaking around the trunk. They heard a quiet knock on the front door and it swung open a few moments later. Hagrid appeared in the doorway, pale with teary eyes. He looked around before Anna heard Harry's voice from near the hut.

"It's us. We're wearing the Invisibility Cloak. Let us in and we can take it off."

"Yeh shouldn've come!" Hagrid whispered, standing back and then shutting the door quickly.

"This is the weirdest thing we've ever done." Harry whispered from next to Anna.

"Let's move closer to Buckbeak." Hermione whispered.

The three crept through the trees toward the pumpkin patch. They soon found Buckbeak laying out in the pumpkin patch, tethered to a tree several feet from the edge of the forest. As expected, Anna could see herself curled up against his side, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Too bad we can't grab him now." Harry whispered, giving Anna a disgruntled look.

"We couldn't grab him now, even if Anna wasn't sitting there. The Committee people would think Hagrid set him free. We've got to wait until they've seen he's tied up outside." Hermione pointed out quietly.

"Yeah, but we also can't do anything until Anna- _that Anna_ -leaves. That gives us-what-less than a minute?" Harry pointed out, jerking his head toward the Anna currently snuggled up with Buckbeak to show which Anna he was talking about. "What if Buckbeak decides to be difficult and not come with us?"

"He'd be more likely to come with me than anyone else." Anna murmured, "But he could also decide to be stubborn."

"So what do we do if he _does_ decide to be stubborn?" Harry asked.

Anna hummed to herself, her eyes casting all around her for some idea; up into the leaves, around the other trunks, and down at the twigs and dirt below. When her eyes landed on a moderate-sized rock, she paused for a moment before an idea popped into her head. She bent down to pick the rock up before straightening, tossing and catching the rock once in her hand as she smirked at Harry and Hermione.

"I might have an idea."

They only had to wait a couple minutes before Hermione nudged Harry and poked Anna, nodding toward the castle. Dumbledore, Fudge, the old Committee member, and the executioner were just leaving the castle, heading for Hagrid's.

"We should be coming out soon." Hermione whispered, looking back toward Hagrid's house.

Sure enough, Hagrid's back door opened and closed. Anna just caught a glimpse of Harry, Ron, and Hermione leaving before they covered themselves with the Invisibility Cloak. Anna could only tell where they were by the grass bending slightly in the shape of footprints as they moved around the pumpkin patch. Right at that moment, Dumbledore and the others appeared on the opposite side of the pumpkin patch. Anna watched the other her spin her head around to see them arrive on the path.

"Young girl, what do you think you're doing?" Fudge demanded in shock. "Get away from that beast this instant!"

"No thanks, I'm rather comfortable where I am." Anna heard herself call back.

"Ms. Black, I think it would be wise if you went back up to the castle. It will be dark soon and you wouldn't want to be out past curfew." Dumbledore told her.

"Buckbeak didn't do anything wrong! I was there! I saw and heard everything! Malfoy provoked him!"

"Now, young lady, we've already reviewed the case and a decision has been made. There's nothing more you can say or do, so I suggest you leave." Fudge told her in the same condescending voice. Anna's fist clenched around the rock in her hand, wanting to throw a punch right in his pompous face.

Hagrid stepped out of his front door in the that moment.

"Annabelle! Yeh get on up to the castle! I told yeh I don't want yeh to see this!" he ordered sternly.

Anna, Harry, and Hermione watched as the other Anna stood up, gave Buckbeak one more hug, and began climbing the slope up toward the castle.

All the adults entered Hagrid's hut once the other Anna was out of sight.

"Where is the beast?" they heard a executioner's voice through the back door.

"Out-outside." Hagrid croaked.

Anna ducked back behind the tree just as the executioner looked out Hagrid's window. Then Fudge's voice came next, babbling about signing the official notice. Anna didn't pay attention to the words, instead pulling out her wand and transfiguring the rock into a ferret.

"I'll be quick as I can." she whispered, tiptoeing around the tree and out of the forest toward the snoozing hippogriff.

"Psst." she hissed as she crept forward. She stopped right behind the tree Buckbeak was tied to. She peaked around the trunk to see Buckbeak lift his head and look at her. She quickly untied the rope, struggling a bit with the knot. "Come on, Beaky. Come on." she whispered as she got it undone. "Let's go for a walk." She gave the rope a little tug.

Buckbeak stared at her for a moment, not making any move to get up.

"I've got your favorite." she whispered enticingly, holding up the ferret. Buckbeak perked up a bit. "Come on, Buckbeak. Just follow me and you can have it. Please?" she begged, giving the rope a stronger pull.

Thankfully, Buckbeak stood up and trotted after her. Although he clearly wanted his ferret, he didn't seem in any hurry to get in the trees. He was barely moving at a trot.

"Come on, Buckbeak, can't you move a bit faster?" she whispered pleadingly, giving the rope a sharper tug. He clipped his beak at her, but picked up his pace just a little bit.

"Just a little farther." Harry told her as he and Hermione walked at Anna's sides. "Okay, we can stop here. We don't want them to hear us." Harry told her when they were far enough that the trees completely hid the hut from their view. They slowed to a stop and Anna dropped the ferret on the ground, allowing Buckbeak to snatch it up and eat it. They paused, silence falling once Buckbeak had swallowed his treat.

The silence was only broken by Hagrid's door flying open with a bang.

"Where is it?" a reedy, old voice asked. "Where is the beast?"

"It was tied here!" the executioner exclaimed, "I saw it! Just here!"

"How extraordinary." said Dumbledore in a voice that held a hint of amusement.

There was a growl, the swish of an axe, and then a crash and splintering noise. The executioner seemed to have swung his axe at the fence in anger.

"Someone untied him!" the executioner was snarling, "We should search the grounds, the forest-"

"Macnair, if Buckbeak has indeed been stolen, do you really think the thief will have led him away on foot?" asked Dumbledore, still sounding amused.

"W-well, what of that girl who was here earlier?" the Minister was stuttering. "You said 'Black' when you addressed her? She's Sirius Black's daughter, if I remember correctly? Perhaps she doubled back and stole the beast while we were inside?"

Anna froze for half a second before she heard Dumbledore's voice.

"I watched Ms. Black reach the top of the slope with my own two eyes just as Macnair signed the paper and we came outside. She could not have doubled back at any time. And anyway, Ms. Black wouldn't dare disrespect Hagrid and go against his wishes, wouldn't you agree, Hagrid?"

"I-I suppose so, Professor."

Anna blushed mildly as Harry and Hermione looked at her.

"Anyway, there isn't much we can do, now, is there? Hagrid, I think I could do with a cup of tea, or perhaps a large brandy?"

"O'-o' course, Professor."

They waited in tense silence until they heard several footsteps, the snap of the door, and then silence.

"Well, what now?" Harry asked quietly, looking around.

"We'll have to wait a while." Anna murmured, petting Buckbeak's neck to keep him cooperative, "We can't do much yet, anyway. How about we head a bit closer to the Willow and wait in the woods near there, so we can at least keep an eye on things?"

Hermione and Harry nodded and headed that way, flanking Anna as she lead a somewhat docile Buckbeak through the woods back the way they'd come.

"What do you think we should do? What's our plan?" Hermione asked fretfully.

"You're the brains." Anna commented lightly, "Shouldn't you already have some idea?"

Hermione chewed her lip as she walked, her eyes glazed over in thought.

"Well," she finally started a few minutes later, "Dumbledore made a point to tell us where Sirius will end up being locked up. In Flitwick's office on the seventh floor. Maybe he wants us to get him out of there somehow…"

"Buckbeak!" Harry whispered suddenly, making the animal in question jump nervously, edging closer to Anna and away from the raven-haired boy. "Maybe he wants us to fly Buckbeak up to the window to get Sirius out!"

Hermione's face lit up, but Anna was still uncertain.

"I don't know." she mumbled. "I just…yeah, I want to save my dad's life, but I also want to prove him innocent. There's got to be something we can do."

The other two didn't comment, instead they all walked in silence until they reached the edge of the forest near the Whomping Willow.

"Look! There's Ron!" Harry suddenly pointed straight ahead. Sure enough, Ron ran into view, chasing his rat and yelling at Crookshanks.

They stopped and hid behind some trees to watch everything. Anna watched herself trip and fall over Ron, and Harry and Hermione nearly did the same.

"There's Sirius." Harry whispered just as the enormous black dog came running. He knocked Harry over and clamped his jaws on Ron's arm, dragging him toward the willow.

Anna winced as she watched herself get smacked in the gut and thrown back a few feet, landing on her back. Instinctively, she raised her free hand to rest it over her ribs, remembering how painful the hit had been. It was so strange, watching herself and the others. Harry was right, it was probably the strangest thing she'd ever done.

They watched as Ron once again was dragged into the tree while their other selves struggled to get past the Willow's branches. Finally, Crookshanks dodged the branches and put his paws on the knot, stopping the tree. Quickly, Anna watched herself lead the others into the tunnel.

Just moments after they'd disappeared into the tree, Dumbledore, Fudge, Macnair, and the old Committee member walked past toward the castle.

"Only moments after we'd gone inside." Anna murmured, shaking her head.

"If only Dumbledore had been in there with us." Hermione whispered.

"But then Fudge would've been in there, too." Harry muttered bitterly, "He probably would've just ordered Macnair to murder Sirius."

Anna nodded in agreement. She wouldn't put it past him.

They watched the older men disappear into the castle and decided to sit down on the forest floor. Just minutes later Lupin arrived. He was racing toward the Willow at top speed. He snatched up a broken branch, prodded the knot so the tree froze again, and entered the passage.

"If only he'd grabbed the Cloak." Harry whispered, his eyes fixed on the base of the Willow. "It's just laying there…" He turned to Hermione, "If I just dashed out now and grabbed it, Snape'd never be able to get it, and-"

" _Harry, no, we mustn't be seen_!"

"How can you stand this?" Harry asked Hermione fiercely. "Just standing and watching it happen?" He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "I'm going to grab the Cloak."

"Harry, _no_!"

Hermione grabbed the back of Harry's collar just in the nick of time. Hagrid was walking by, singing loudly and very off-key, stumbling as he walked, and swinging a bottle at his side.

" _See_?" Hermione whispered, yanking Harry back. " _See what could have happened_?"

"Buckbeak!" Anna hissed, the rope almost slipping through her fingers as the hippogriff tried to follow the half-giant. She stood and dug her heels into the dirt, the hippogriff nearly pulling her over. Harry and Hermione joined her in holding the rope, barely keeping Buckbeak hidden in the shadows. Buckbeak only stopped fighting when Hagrid disappeared inside the castle. He stopped moving and lowered his head sadly.

Harry and Hermione sighed in relief, releasing the rope while Anna moved around to stand at Buckbeak's side, petting the top of his head.

"Don't worry, Buckbeak. I'm sure you'll see Hagrid again someday, but right now is too dangerous." she whispered to him.

They moved just a few feet further into the trees to ensure they were hidden again. And just then, the castle doors flew open again and Snape came dashing toward the Whomping Willow. He slid to a stop by the tree and picked up a silvery object, probably Harry's Invisibility Cloak. Harry clenched his fists at Anna's side.

"Get your filthy hands off it." he growled under his breath. Anna patted his shoulder to try and calm him down.

Snape did as Lupin did, lifted the broken stick, prodded the knot, and climbed inside once the branches stopped moving.

"That's it." Hermione whispered. "We're all down there…now we've just got to wait for us to come back up again…"

Anna tied Buckbeak's rope to a nearby tree and sat down again, followed by Harry and Hermione so they sat in a bit of a circle. After snuffling around a bit, Buckbeak approached them and laid down, his tail and back hooves behind Harry's back so he could curl around Anna and lay his head on her lap.

"Harry, there's something I don't understand." Hermione admitted as she sat, wrapping her arms around her knees. "Why didn't the dementors get Sirius? I remember them coming, and then I think I passed out…there were so many of them…"

Anna turned to watch Harry, as well, curious to know what actually happened since her mind had been a bit jumbled under the dementors' attack.

"Well,…Lupin's been teaching me how to fight the dementors, using the Patronus Charm. So I was trying to do it again, I've done it before, at the match, but there were so many of them…I think, Anna, that you were trying to draw them away." he added, looking at her thoughtfully.

Anna nodded, looking down at Buckbeak's head as she stroked his feathers. "Yeah, I changed my appearance to look exactly like my father, and I tried to lead the dementors away. I managed to get a few of them to follow me, but not enough to really make a difference. There were just too many. I didn't get too far before I collapsed."

Harry nodded. "It was worth a shot, I suppose. I wasn't having much luck. Anyway, I eventually collapsed, but then…I saw it. I saw a real, fully formed Patronus. It scared the dementors away."

"But who could've conjured it?" Hermione asked curiously.

Harry seemed hesitant to answer, which made Anna think he had his own thoughts on who it was, but wasn't sure if he should say it.

"Didn't you see who it looked like?" Hermione urged eagerly. "Was it a teacher?"

"No, he wasn't a teacher."

"But it must've been a really powerful wizard, to drive all those dementors away…If the Patronus was shining so brightly, didn't it light him up? Couldn't you see-?"

"Yeah, I saw him." Harry admitted slowly.

"Who do you think it was?" Hermione urged, leaning forward.

"I think-" Harry swallowed, "I think it was my dad."

There was a moment of silence, and Anna and Hermione's mouths were both hanging open as they stared at him with a mixture of alarm and pity.

"Harry, your dad's-well- _dead_." Hermione reminded him. Anna was grateful she said it, because she didn't think she'd be able to say it.

"I know that." Harry told them quickly.

"Do you think you saw his ghost?" Anna asked quietly.

"I don't know…no…he looked solid…"

"But-"

"Maybe I was seeing things. But…from what I could see…it looked like him…I've got photos of him…"

Hermione and Anna exchanged a worried glance. Anna was wondering if Harry was possibly going crazy. After the night's events, she couldn't exactly blame him.

They sat in relative silence for over an hour, watching the sky go from gold to navy blue before anything happened.

"We're coming out." Hermione whispered, looking between Anna and Harry's heads. The other two turned to look over their shoulders. Sure enough, Crookshanks left the tunnel and pushed the knot, being followed by Lupin and then the others.

A sudden idea struck Anna and her head snapped around to stare at Hermione.

"I have an idea. We can capture Pettigrew!"

" _No_ , Anna, we can't!" Hermione hissed, shaking her head.

"I shot the Stunning Spell at him, and missed. It was too hard to hit him once he transformed into a rat." Anna hurried to explain. "What if I shoot the spell at him at the same moment I shot it at him the first time, but I hit him this time." she explained, hoping she made sense. "No one would notice, it would just look like I didn't miss."

Hermione was shaking her head, looking at war with herself. "But…but that's tampering with the past. You could mess so many things up."

"Like what? What's the worse that could happen? Pettigrew gets arrested for all those murders, my dad gets proven innocent, and Harry gets to come live with us?" Anna ranted desperately, knowing they were running out of time if she really wanted to act.

Hermione still looked at war with herself, but her resolve seemed to be wavering now that Harry was giving her a desperate, almost-puppy-eyes expression. Finally, she sighed.

"Oh, alright-but remember, _we can't be seen_! That's _imperative_! No one can see us!" she insisted.

Anna nodded. "Right, no problem. That shouldn't be hard." Hopefully.

Anna double-checked Buckbeak's rope was tight, planning to leave him there until everything was over and she could figure out what to do with him, before they followed their other selves. They made sure to stay completely hidden from view in the forest. Anna's eyes remained mainly fixed on Pettigrew, watching his every nervous little move.

They were growing nearer to the castle and Anna glanced up at the sky. She could see the clouds drifting, and watched a specific cloud as the silver light grew stronger behind it's edge until the moon began peaking out from behind it. Her eyes then moved back to Pettigrew and the others just as the moon's light bathed them.

From just past Pettigrew, she could barely see Lupin stiffen, jerking Pettigrew and Ron, all chained together, to a stop. Snape's floating unconscious body bumped into their backs, and Sirius froze, causing the other Anna, Harry, and Hermione to stop behind him.

Sirius tossed Harry back and Anna barely heard him shout, "RUN!" while she watched Lupin slowly and painfully morph into a werewolf.

Anna crept closer, leaving Hermione and Harry in the safety of the trees. She paused just a step outside of the trees, the shadow still barely hiding her. She pulled her wand from her waistband and held it out, the tip pointed straight at Pettigrew's chest, waiting with baited breath for the right moment.

The werewolf reared up, breaking free of his manacle just as her father, in his dog form, clamped his jaws around it's neck. The two fought, slowly drawing away from the others at Sirius's urging.

Pettigrew made his dive for Lupin's dropped wand, pulling Ron to the ground.

At the same moment as her other self, Anna muttered, " _Stupefy!_ "

Unlike last time, her spell hit it's target. She hit Pettigrew just to the side of his chest. His body froze and fell to the ground. Ron managed to pull himself to his knees at Pettigrew's side, their wrists still chained together, and grabbed Lupin's wand to tuck in his back pocket.

With a low howl, the werewolf raced off into the forest. Sirius stumbled and lowered onto his side, morphing back to his human form. Anna watched intently as he surveyed the others. She barely heard his voice when he spoke.

"You kids get up to the castle. Get Peter and Snape up there, find Dumbledore, and tell him what happened. I've got to go after Remus and make sure he doesn't attack anyone. He'd never forgive himself."

With that, Sirius morphed back into his dog form, stumbled to his feet, shook himself, and hurried off at a jog.

Anna didn't find it too surprising that her other self completely ignored her father's orders and ran after him. Or that Harry told Ron to stay with Pettigrew and Snape before following with Hermione on his heels.

"Come on." Anna whispered, looking over her shoulder at Harry and Hermione, "We've got to follow. Make sure everything works out. And maybe we can see who sent that Patronus." she added, hoping to tempt Harry if nothing else.

They both nodded, though Hermione was a bit reluctant, and the three raced off to try and reach the lake in time.

Anna felt the familiar cold seeping into her chest and lungs as they neared the lake. She looked up and saw the dementors floating over the trees and descending towards the lake. Through the trees and bushes, she could just make out a flickering silver light on the opposite bank, Harry's attempts at a Patronus.

She slowed to a stop and peaked around a bush.

She could see herself, Harry, and Hermione crouched over her father, who lay unconscious as the dementors swooped down over them. Harry had his wand in the air and was shouting, trying to form his Patronus, Hermione passed out right before their eyes, and Anna herself was changing her appearance so she looked like an exact clone of her father before stumbling to her feet and hurrying away, calling the dementors after her.

Dragging her eyes from across the lake, Anna looked around to see if anyone else was around, someone who could have sent out that Patronus Harry saw. But no one was there.

Her eyes went back across the lake, foreboding filling her chest as she watched herself stumble and fall to her hands and knees.

"No one's coming." Hermione whispered behind her.

"No." Harry argued desperately, "No, he has to. He shows up _right here_."

Anna swallow thickly, trying desperately to think of something. Then, it hit her.

Spinning around, she stared at Harry with wide eyes. He jumped and stared back at her.

"It's you." she breathed. "Harry, you look just like your father. I've seen pictures, you look just like him. We're right in the exact spot. You're the one who saves us." she told him frantically, gesturing across the lake with a sweep of her hand.

Something lit in Harry's green eyes and suddenly he threw himself out of the bush, his wand in hand. He ran to the edge of the lake shore and pointed his wand in the air.

" _EXPECTO PATRONUM!_ " he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Unlike his earlier feeble attempts, a great, silver animal burst from the tip of Harry's wand. Anna flinched and squinted, lifting a hand to try and block some of the blinding light. It took a few moments and the light dimmed a bit as the animal crossed the lake.

Lowering her hand slightly, Anna looked across and got a good look at Harry's Patronus as it lowered it's head to charge the dementors. It was a stag. Anna smiled. A stag, just like Prongs.

The dementors fled quickly and Harry's Patronus trotted back over the surface of the lake to Harry's side. He patted it on the head before it vanished like a silver mist.

"Harry, that was incredible!" Anna told him as he slowly backed toward them.

He shot her a smile before they looked back across the lake. Snape had arrived and was conjuring stretchers.

"Come on, we've done everything we needed to." Hermione told them. "Ron's got Pettigrew and he'll get him to the castle to tell Dumbledore. Sirius will be proven innocent."

Harry and Anna nodded as the three made the trek back through the woods toward where they left Buckbeak. They had been walking for a few minutes before Anna paused and stopped walking.

Harry and Hermione stopped and looked at her.

"What's wrong?"

"Shh!" Anna hissed, turning a bit to look over her shoulder through the woods. Her eyes scanned the darkness, her ears straining to hear the sound she thought she heard just moments ago. Then, she heard it again. Heavy footsteps pounding against the ground, rustling branches. Something heavy was crashing through the forest toward them.

"Something's coming this way." Anna whispered to the others.

"What?" Hermione's voice took on a mildly panicked tone. "Are you sure? Maybe it's going another direction."

Anna listened before shaking her head. "Nope, it's definitely coming this way. Start walking, I'll keep listening."

They slowly started walking again, Anna walking almost sideways so she could continue listening.

"I think I can hear it now." Harry whispered, looking anxiously into the woods over his shoulder. "It sounds big. Think it's Lupin?"

Anna was silent for a few moments, but before she could answer a long, low howl ripped through the night air from the same direction of whatever was running toward them.

"Yep, it's him. Run." Anna turned and shoved at Harry and Hermione's backs, forcing them into a run before she bolted after them.

The three raced nearly silently through the trees and undergrowth, dodging bushes and leaping over logs and rocks. Anna half-expected to hear dramatic chase music, but the only sounds she could really hear was her heart pounding in her chest and the wind rushing in her ears.

After a few moments, Anna glanced over her shoulder. She saw some bushes several meters back wave violently. She snapped her head back around, not wanting to look or risk tripping.

"He's catching up." she hissed from right behind Hermione, hoping the younger girl heard her. She must've, because she picked up her pace a little.

"Hurry, Harry." she heard Hermione say quietly to the boy in front of her.

"What are we going to do?" Harry asked over his shoulder so they could both hear him. "Where are we going?"

Anna thought for a moment. "Buckbeak. Just get back to Buckbeak. We can figure it out there."

They didn't answer, just kept running, but they were still going in the direction that would take them to the tethered hippogriff.

Anna couldn't silence her scream when a tree just to her right was crashed into. She ducked and stumbled, but managed to remain upright as they continued running. Her panic was rising as she heard panting breath from behind her.

The werewolf was right behind her.

"Hermione, you're smart. Do spells work on werewolves?" Anna shouted, no longer trying to be quiet since Lupin was definitely chasing them now.

"Um, they should!" she shouted over her shoulder. "I don't see why they wouldn't."

Anna tightened her hold on her wand, just in case she needed to use it as they continued running.

They were getting close to where they tied up Buckbeak when Lupin managed to cut them off, skidding to a stop right in their path. Harry slid to a stop and Hermione and Anna ran into his back.

The three kids slowly backed up, all holding their wands up. The werewolf stood up on it's back legs, it's long front legs leaving the ground. He snapped his jaws at them, baring his fangs as he approached them.

Anna swallowed, preparing to shoot the stunning spell at him when he suddenly lunged at them. The three kids jumped away from each other, barely missing the attack. Anna felt the breeze of Lupin's claws inches from her arm.

Anna rolled over on the ground and sat back up on her knees, her wand outstretched in her hand. Harry and Hermione backed themselves into a tree as Lupin circled back. He swiped at Harry, who ducked. Lupin's claws caught the tree where Harry's head had been, splintering the wood.

"Don't let him scratch you!" Anna shouted.

"What do you think we're doing?!" Harry yelled back, shoving Hermione just as Lupin swiped at them again.

Anna picked up a rock and chucked it, hitting Lupin in the back of the head. He shook his head and spun around, snarling at her. Anna backed up, her wand out and pointed right at his chest as he advanced on her.

Anna prepared to shoot a spell at him when a loud howl erupted from nearby, definitely not from Lupin. Anna paused, her eyes instinctively searching the nearby trees.

Her distraction cost her as something caught the side of her head. She felt weightless for a moment before her head connected with a tree and everything went black.

 **XXX**

 **I HATE TIME TRAVEL! It's so confusing and always gives me a headache!**

 **Anyway, I hope everyone liked the changes I made to the original plot and Anna's role in this chapter. Let me know what you all thought!**


	14. Innocent

A pounding, throbbing pain was what eventually woke Annabelle from her slumber. She scrunched up her face, her eyes were stinging and everything was sore. She could hear whispering voices from nearby and eventually forced herself to open her eyes.

There was a white curtain around her bed, light shining mildly through the fabric, though most of it was blocked. The only part of her bed that wasn't blocked by the curtain was the right side, so she could see the two people sitting on the edge of the bed to her right.

Harry and Hermione stopped talking and smiled at her when they saw she was awake.

"Hi. How're you feeling?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

Anna groaned, putting a hand to her head. "Like I got hit by a Bludger." Then, she remembered what happened and sat up slowly, leaning back against her pillow. "What happened?" she whispered worriedly.

"Well, Lupin hit you in the head and you crashed into a tree. You were knocked out. But do you remember hearing those howls before you got knocked out?" Hermione asked.

Anna nodded slowly. "I…vaguely remember. I heard a howl, that's why I got distracted. It wasn't another werewolf, was it?" she asked, worried and wondering how the other two managed to escape relatively unharmed.

They both shook their heads with smiles on their faces. "No. It was a pack of wolves. Real, actual wolves, not werewolves. They came and attacked Lupin, leading him away from us."

Anna stared at Harry, who had spoke, with wide eyes. She vaguely remembered a pack of wolves from her second year when the twins made her follow them into the forest.

"A pack of them? How-how many were there? What did they look like?" she asked quietly.

Hermione thought for a moment. "I think there were four or five of them. They were different colors; a couple gray, there was definitely a white one, and there were a couple more, I think, but it all happened so fast they were kind of blurry. But there was something so…different about them." she admitted.

"Different how?" Anna asked.

"They seemed…intelligent. More than a normal wolf." Hermione admitted. "One of them looked me in the eyes while the others forced Lupin away from us, and it's eyes just seemed…almost human."

Anna nodded slowly. "I knew it."

"How?" Harry asked in bewilderment, "You were unconscious."

"The twins dragged me into the forest our second year, and I was…rescued by a pack of wolves that sound exactly like the ones you just described." she admitted.

Harry and Hermione stared at her with wide eyes.

"But anyway, forget about that. I can tell you more details later. Did…did we succeed?" she asked in a whisper, almost too terrified to hope. "Is my dad…?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged a glance with small smiles.

"Just remember, what we did stays between us." Hermione reminded her as Harry stood up to grab the curtain around Anna's bed. With it in his hand, he walked around her bed to reveal the rest of the hospital wing.

Ron was in the bed across the ward, his broken leg wrapped up, but he was conscious and grinned at her in greeting.

Anna's eyes moved to the bed next to her, opposite the one Hermione was sitting on, and she saw her father. He was sitting up in his bed and smiled when their eyes met.

"You're here." she whispered, staring at him. "You're really here? We did it? Did we really prove you innocent?"

Sirius chuckled lightly. "Yes, you did."

"Dumbledore was in here about half an hour ago." Harry told her, sitting in a chair between her bed and Sirius's. "He said the Minister was on his way to Hogwarts and they'd be interrogating Pettigrew using some Truth Potion. We don't know much other than that, but he said he was hopeful. Everything should work out."

Anna sighed in relief, slouching back against her pillow and letting her head fall back.

"What a relief." she muttered.

"Dumbledore also mentioned he wrote to your mom." Hermione added to Anna. "She's been informed of what's happened and will probably be on her way here sometime today."

Anna nodded, looking over at her father to gauge his reaction to that. He appeared mildly nervous, but mostly excited at the thought of seeing his wife again.

Madam Pomfrey came over and gave Anna a couple potions to help with her headache and other pains. Afterwards, everyone mostly talked among themselves about multiple topics for a few minutes. Anna guessed it was very early still, since the sun appeared to just be rising.

Their conversation only stopped when the hospital wing doors opened and Dumbledore entered, followed by the Minister. Anna could've sworn she saw a crowd of people and heard several voices as the two slipped in, but it was silent once more when the door closed.

"Ah, Ms. Black, nice to see you awake this time." Dumbledore smiled kindly at her.

"Thank you, Professor." Anna smiled in return, giving him a nod.

"Did you get the answers you needed?" Sirius asked, his eyes fixed on Dumbledore and completely ignoring Fudge.

"That's what we came here for. Cornelius, if you will?" Dumbledore turned to the Minister and looked at him with expectant, piercing blue eyes.

Fudge was spinning his usual bowler hat between his hands, looking around the room anxiously. Finally, he cleared his throat and glanced at Sirius.

"Well,…we interviewed Peter Pettigrew under the influence of Veritaserum. He told us everything we needed to know…About him being the Potters' Secret-Keeper, and betraying them to You-Know-Who, and framing you, Mr. Black, by shouting that you'd betrayed the Potters and blowing apart the street. He also admitted to faking his own death by cutting off his finger and transforming into a rat, apparently he was an Unregistered Animagus."

"So what does that all mean, Cornelius?" Dumbledore urged when Fudge fell silent. Anna fought a smirk, watching the Minister squirm.

"It means that you, Sirius Black, have been cleared of all charges. And, on behalf of the Ministry of Magic, I offer you my deepest apologies for the injustice you were served."

"Thank you." Sirius said, though his eyes were focused more on Dumbledore, showing who he was _really_ thanking.

"And now, unfortunately, we have some bad news to add, as well." Dumbledore admitted, causing most of the people in the room to stiffen.

"What could've possibly happened _now_?" Ron demanded.

"After we got the answers we needed from Pettigrew, the Minister sent for a couple dementors to take him to Azkaban. When we returned to get him, it was just in time to see him transform into a rat and slip out of the room through a crack in the wall. We've searched, but it seems he's escaped the castle."

Anna groaned, her head falling back against the wall.

"After everything we did, he still gets away." Harry complained, only Hermione and Anna understanding the full meaning of his words.

"But look on the bright side." Hermione told them, causing the whole room to look at her. "We captured Pettigrew and brought him to the castle so Sirius could be proven innocent. And he has been. Pettigrew escaping now shouldn't change that. Right?" she suddenly looked nervous, turning to look back at Dumbledore and Fudge.

Dumbledore, also, turned to look at Fudge, as if daring him to contradict his earlier statement.

"No, of course not. Black has been proven innocent, I've already sent word to the Ministry." Fudge assured them all. "I expect the _Daily Prophet_ will announce it on the front page this morning. I won't go back on my word."

Anna instantly relaxed. Even though a guilty man escaped, all she really cared about was her dad coming home, as selfish as that sounded.

"There you go." she poked at Harry's arm from where he was still sitting on his chair next to her bed. "You should still be able to come live with us, now."

Harry smiled at her, relaxing a bit at the reminder.

"Well, we shall leave you all to rest." Dumbledore told them all with a smile as he and Fudge headed toward the door. "Oh," he turned back to them, "There are a few things you all may want to be aware of before I go.

"It seems someone let slip to some Slytherin students what transpired last night; mainly focusing on Professor Lupin's condition."

"Gee, wonder who let that slip." Ron commented sardonically.

"Also, as always seems to be the case in Hogwarts, it seems most of the school already knows most of the details of what happened last night. Including Sirius Black being proven innocent, and several students being injured and treated in here. Due to this, there is currently a crowd of students camped outside the hospital wing doors, wanting to see if the rumors are true. It is due to a silencing charm and some specific locking charms that they are being kept at bay. There are two particular students, however," at this Dumbledore's eyes began twinkling, "that are quite persistent about getting in here. Their argument is that their brother is in here." at this, he looked over at Ron, whose brows furrowed, "And I may or may not have overheard them plotting to set off dungbombs as a distraction so they could slip in here."

Anna sighed heavily, unable to help chuckling as her head fell back against the wall. Harry was also smirking a little bit.

"Ha!" Ron burst out from across the ward. "As if they want to see _me_! They clearly want to see her." he added, waving his hand toward Anna's bed.

Dumbledore smiled, his eyes fixed on Anna.

"Could…would it be alright if they came in?" she asked him.

"It would probably cause less damage." Dumbledore admitted, "Of course, if they cause too much trouble in here, Poppy may throw them out."

Anna laughed. "Okay, could you let them in?"

"Of course." Dumbledore nodded with a smile before following Fudge from the room. A few minutes later, the doors opened again and two gingers entered.

"ANNA!" Instantly, they bolted down the ward toward Anna's bed and tackled her. Anna laughed, wrapped tightly by two pairs of arms and squished under both of them.

"Guys! I can't breathe!" she laughed, trying to shove them off her.

"If you two are going to be roughhousing with my patients, I'll throw you out!" Madam Pomfrey shouted, popping her head out of her office. "They've all been through enough without you two cracking their ribs."

Fred and George quickly scrambled off Anna and sat down, Fred on the edge of her bed near her leg while George sat next to Hermione on the next bed over. It was actually comical watching George's eyes grow wide as he stared straight ahead at her father. Fred, having seen his twin's expression, looked over his shoulder and his eyes also went wide.

Anna loudly cleared her throat, making the two turn and look at her.

"Staring is rude, so how about some formal introductions?" she offered sarcastically, "Fred, George, this is my father: Sirius Black." she announced, waving her hand between them, "Dad, these are my idiot best friends, also Ron's older brothers, Fred and George." she added, pointing at each twin as she said his name even though she knew that was probably pointless. "And may I also add," she continued to the twins, "Ha! I told you so! I was right, you were wrong! Ha! Ha! _Ha!_ "

Fred and George rolled their eyes while Harry, Ron, and Hermione sniggered around the ward. "Oh, come on, can you blame us for being a bit dubious?" Fred asked her, "You have to admit, it was a pretty farfetched theory."

"They're not wrong." Sirius told her with a smirk.

"But still," Anna smirked, "I was _right_. I'm not crazy."

"Wouldn't go that far." Fred muttered with a smirk. Anna mock glared at him, using her knee to kick him in the hip. "Ow!"

"Anyway, would any of you like to give us the actual story?" George asked, looking around the room.

So, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Anna took turns telling parts of the story, with Sirius cutting in here and there. Of course, Harry, Hermione, and Anna left out their little time travel adventure.

By the time they had finished, the twins' jaws were hanging open.

"Bloody hell." they muttered together before Fred turned to look over his shoulder at Ron, "And you let that guy sleep in your _bed_!"

The others chuckled while Ron scrunched up his nose. "Don't remind me!"

"So, now that we told you two what actually happened last night, how about you tell us what all's happening in the castle. What're people saying?" Anna asked.

"Well, everyone knows the basics, that Sirius Black was proven innocent and is being treated in the hospital wing and that Pettigrew guy was actually alive. And Snape let slip at breakfast that Lupin's a werewolf and was loose on the grounds. Oh, and I heard a lot of students have owled their parents about it." Fred told them.

"We reckon Lupin isn't going to be here much longer." George admitted, sounding as disappointed about it as the others.

"But Professor Dumbledore wouldn't fire Professor Lupin over it." Hermione argued, "He already knew about it when he hired him."

"Yes, but now the students have written to their parents." Sirius pointed out, "Lot's of witches and wizards look down on werewolves, think they're dangerous. Mind you, there're a lot of werewolves that don't help that image, but either way, I reckon lots of parents are going to be sending in Howlers by evening."

Anna shook her head sadly. "It's not fair. He's one of the best teachers we've ever had. He doesn't deserve to be driven out."

Their conversation was interrupted at that moment by the hospital wing door opening a crack. They all turned to watch as Wren Black slipped inside, shutting the door behind her. Her eyes landed on Anna and she slowly approached her daughter, her eyes not leaving hers. Anna thought her mother looked nervous, and she seemed to be making a point of not looking over at her husband.

"Are you okay, darling?" Wren asked quietly, her eyes scanning her daughter's body for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine, mum. Promise." Anna assured her with a smile.

Wren nodded once. Then, she hesitated before her eyes moved to the next bed over. Anna watched as her parents made eye contact for the first time in about two years.

Not breaking their eye contact, Wren moved around her daughter's bed toward her husband. Slowly, she lowered herself to sit on the edge of his bed next to his knee.

"Hi." she whispered, tears starting to blur her eyes.

Sirius gave her a sad smile. "Hello, love."

Wren's lip trembled and she quickly leaned into him, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his neck. Sirius wrapped his own arms around her tightly, hiding his tears in her chin-length hair.

Anna averted her eyes to give her parents some privacy, and she noticed the others did the same. She looked over to where Harry had moved to sit next to George and Hermione. When their eyes met, they smiled.

Finally, things were looking up.

XXX

Madam Pomfrey released everyone from the hospital wing around noon the next day, and the castle was very empty. Anna and Harry wished Wren and Sirius goodbye, wishing them well until they saw each other again. Wren swore to Harry that she would be going into the Ministry to get started on the process of getting custody of him, while also working on getting Sirius back to full health. Wren also, on Anna's request, wrote to Remus to invite him to live with them. Apparently, he'd lived with them from the time they graduated Hogwarts to the night James and Lily died. His room in the basement had special spells cast on it during the full moon so he couldn't hurt anyone.

Also, Anna got permission from her parents to keep Buckbeak and her dad agreed to help her build a pen in the woods behind their house. Anna just needed to get Buckbeak home.

The castle was rather empty, considering everyone was taking advantage of the warm day and Hogsmeade trip. Anna could've made the trip and met up with her friends, but she didn't feel up to it, instead asking them to get her a bottle of butterbeer.

She made the trip to the forest where Buckbeak was still tethered to a tree. She was carrying Ariel on her shoulder and a dead ferret in her hand. Ariel gave her a disgruntled look at what she asked.

"Please, Ariel. Just take this ferret to my mum and dad back home, and make sure Buckbeak follows you. Please?"

Ariel clipped her beak and grabbed the dead animal in one clawed foot.

"Now, Buckbeak, I want you to follow Ariel." Anna told him sternly, pointing at Ariel. Buckbeak looked from her to the small owl, but was mainly focused on the ferret. "She's going to take you to your new home. Okay?"

So, she untied Buckbeak's rope and let Ariel fly away, Buckbeak flying at a gradual pace behind her. Now, she just had to hope for the best.

Anna wandered the castle a bit after that. She was passing Lupin's office when she heard voices. Pausing, she backtracked and looked inside.

Lupin and Harry were talking to each other. Anna stepped into the doorway and knocked lightly on the door. They both looked up and smiled at her.

"Ah, Anna, I was wondering if I'd see you again before I left."

"You're leaving?" she asked. She figured he would, but it was still disappointing to hear.

"Unfortunately. I'm sure parents will be writing soon and insisting I leave the school. No one wants a monster teaching their children."

"You're not a monster." Anna told him firmly. "A monster is someone who enjoys hurting people. You can't control what happens when you're a werewolf."

Lupin smiled appreciatively. "Thank you, but it's for the best either way. Anyway, I was just about to give this back to Harry." he announced, lifting up a familiar worn piece of parchment. "As I'm no longer a teacher, I feel no guilt giving it to you." he added as he handed it over.

Harry smiled at it for a moment before it faltered and he turned to look up at Anna.

"Actually, I think you should have it." he told her, holding it out to her. "You've got as much right to it as I do, your dad helped make it."

"Obviously, but so did yours. And if we're basing it off that, then we've got equal rights, since both our dads and godfathers made it." she pointed out. "You get into way more trouble than I do, which is saying something given my choice in friends. You keep it."

Harry smiled. "Alright, but our agreement still stands. You can use it whenever you need to."

"Deal." she grinned at him before turning back to Lupin, who was watching them with a smile. "Hey,…could I ask you a random question? It's been bugging me for a couple days now."

"Sure. What is it?" Lupin asked curiously.

"Well,…when we were in the forest…" she started slowly, glancing at Harry, "there was a pack of wolves. Real wolves, not werewolves. And they helped us, and I remember they'd saved me my second year. I was just wondering if you knew anything about them? They just seemed too intelligent to be normal wolves."

Lupin nodded slowly, smiling down at her. "Ah, yes. Dumbledore and I have studied them a little bit. They are indeed normal wolves, technically, but that pack was actually the result of two werewolves mating on the full moon. Not me, I can assure you!" he added quickly when Anna and Harry's mouths fell open. "No, but it was actually a very rare occurrence, only the second recorded in history. Dumbledore allowed them to live in the forest when they were a young litter, and they eventually grew into a pack. They're no more dangerous than normal wolves, and they aren't even really savage. But the staff allows the students to believe the rumors that there are vicious werewolves in the forest in the hopes it will keep curious students out of the forest." he added with a knowing smirk at the two students.

Anna and Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Thanks, that's really cool." Anna told him. "Anyway, did you get a letter from my mum or dad?" she asked him curiously.

"As a matter-of-fact I did, just before Harry got here." Lupin nodded.

"And?" she urged hopefully.

Lupin smiled, shaking his head in amusement. "I will admit, Wren made some good arguments. And she knows how to strong-arm a person if I try saying no. So I'll probably be heading that way when I leave here. But I'll also need to be looking for a job to help in some way. I don't expect to live with your family and not help out in any way I can, as your mother should expect."

Anna smiled, instantly looking forward to the coming summer.

XXX

The End-of-Term feast passed wonderfully, the Great Hall covered in Gryffindor colors as they celebrated Gryffindor winning both the Quidditch and House Cups. Anna was even able to look Flint in the eyes from across the Hall and have no feelings of fear or panic, which she felt was a huge accomplishment. Considering everything else she'd witnessed this year, fearing Flint seemed small. There was the added benefit that she was certain he wouldn't come back the next year. McGonagall would never allow him to come back for a ninth year.

"Hey, Anna are you doing anything this summer?" Fred asked as they entered an empty compartment on the Hogwarts Express.

"Um, apart from spending time with my parents, and possibly Remus, setting up Harry's room, and hopefully moving Harry in at some point; no." she answered.

"Well, none of those should present a problem." George commented as he shoved his luggage overhead and helping Anna with hers.

"Dad wrote us earlier telling us to invite you to come with us to the Quidditch World Cup this summer." Fred told her as they all sat down again. "Dad can usually get tickets from work, and you, Harry, and Hermione are all invited."

"Really?" Anna asked excitedly.

"Of course." the twins chorused before Fred added by himself, "And Charlie and Bill are planning on coming home for the summer so they can come, too."

"In other words," George added teasingly, "Charlie's coming."

Anna scrunched her nose up at him, but she couldn't make her smile go away.

"I'll ask my parents about it as soon as I see them on the platform." she told them.

Their other friends soon joined them, and they all started talking about their plans for the summer. A few minutes after the train started moving, the door to their compartment slid open. They all looked up to see Marcus Flint smirking at Anna.

She instantly stood up, pulling her wand from her pocket. "What do you want?" she demanded, feeling the twins stand up behind her.

"What's the matter, Black? I just came to say goodbye. Aren't you going to miss me?" he taunted.

Anna took the three steps to bring herself face-to-face with him, the tip of her wand pressed into the center of his chest. The smugness in Flint's expression barely flickered, his eyes glancing down at the wand.

"I've put up with a lot of crap this year. Between my dad, the dementors, and facing a werewolf in the Dark Forest…If you think I'm going to continue being scared of you after everything else that's happened…think again." she told him darkly.

Flint was no longer smirking. He was glaring slightly down at her, though he looked more angry at the fact that he could no longer intimidate her the way he liked.

Something pressed into the back of Anna's shoulder and Fred's voice spoke just behind her ear. "I suggest you beat it, Flint. I think every person in this compartment would love to hex you."

Flint glared around at all of them before turning and walking back down the corridor.

Anna sighed, her shoulders relaxing as if a weight had been lifted from her person. Fred laughed, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"Let's sit down and enjoy the rest of this train ride." he suggested, leading her back to their seat.

They spent the rest of the ride pranking a couple Slytherins, eating food off the trolley, and playing a few rounds of Exploding Snap.

Anna was laughing at a joke Lee told as the train pulled into the station. A few people stood up and started trying to pull their trunks down. Anna stood and barely started tugging on her trunk handle when Alicia accidentally bumped into her from behind.

Stumbling forward, Anna managed to catch herself with her hands braced on the edge of the overhead. She shook her head to get her hair out of her face and paused.

Fred's face was inches from hers, her arms on either side of him, and his hands were holding her waist to keep her from falling. His cheeks were slightly pink, and Anna knew her face was red.

Clearing her throat, Anna shoved herself upright and stepped away from him, subtly glancing around to make sure no one saw that. The only sign she saw was George smirking to himself as he pulled his own trunk down from the overhead.

Someone else cleared their throat and Anna turned to face forward again. Fred grinned at her, holding her trunk up for a second before placing it on the ground at her feet. "Here."

Anna smiled shyly. "Thanks." she whispered, taking her trunk and dragging it out of the compartment after the others.

Anna and the twins crossed the barrier and found their families standing together on the platform. Anna almost didn't recognize her father. He was clean with some color to his younger-looking face, and he had clearly filled out a bit under Wren's cooking, even though the nice clothes he was wearing still hung a bit loosely on him. His long hair was sleek, but cut to his shoulders now instead of matted to his elbows. Over all, he just looked happier and healthier.

People stared at Sirius and whispered as they passed, a few looking nervous but most just curious since he'd been announced innocent to the whole world. But he didn't seem to notice any of them. He had his arm wrapped around Wren's waist while she talked with Molly, his eyes scanning the crowd, probably for Anna and Harry.

Sure enough, when Anna met his eyes, his smile widened. Pushing her trolley even faster, Anna hurried toward her parents. She let go of her trolley several feet from her parents, ran past it, and leapt on her dad, wrapping her arms around his neck. He laughed loudly in her ear, hugging her back tightly as her feet left the ground. He hugged her for several seconds before putting her back on the ground so she could hug her mother.

"I bet you're happy to have your father home." Molly mentioned to Anna after hugging the twins one at a time. She seemed a bit nervous around Sirius, but otherwise warm.

Anna nodded with a huge smile.

"Now, before the crowd gets too thick," Sirius spoke up, his eyes fixed on the people who were coming from the barrier of platform 9 ¾, "could someone kindly point out that bastard Flint that hurt my daughter? I'd like to…have a word with him." he added darkly.

"Uuuuhhh no." Anna stated, her eyes going wide as she pushed her hands into his chest. "You don't need to do that. I already handled him on the train. It's been handled."

"What do you mean?" Wren asked worriedly, slipping her hand around Sirius's arm to keep him in place. "Did Flint attack you again?"

"Ha!" Fred burst out a laugh, dropping his arm around Anna's shoulders. "He tried starting something in our compartment, but Anna wasn't having any of it. She scared him off like the little coward he is."

Anna blushed but met her dad's eyes proudly, her chin raised. He grinned down at her.

"I better be hearing some details when we get home." he told her.

"It's really not that thrilling, but okay." she answered with a shrug as Fred removed his arm from her shoulders.

Harry arrived just then with Ron and Hermione. He was looking between Sirius and Wren hopefully.

Wren gave him a sad smile. "I'm sorry, Harry. I don't have any new news for you, I'm afraid. I've really been trying, I swear. There weren't supposed to be this many…challenges. It seems like everything's trying to get in the way. We've been doing everything we can."

Harry nodded in understanding, though he clearly looked disappointed. Anna narrowed her eyes at her mother.

"You're almost making it sound," she started slowly, "like something…or some _one_ is trying to stop you from getting custody of Harry."

Wren looked anxiously up at her husband before fixing Anna with a small smile. "I'm sure it's not like that, Anna. We're doing our best."

"Didn't say you weren't." Anna shrugged, before glancing around at everyone in their little group. "Um, the twins mentioned the Quidditch World Cup…" she started uncertainly.

Arthur's face lit up. "Ah, yes. You, Harry, and Hermione are invited if you'd like to come. I can get tickets at work."

Anna smiled hopefully up at her parents. "Could I go? Pretty please?"

Wren smiled and looked up at her husband, her arm going loosely around his waist.

"You know, someone at work offered to get me a couple tickets to the Cup, but I'm not much of a Quidditch person. What about you, Sirius? How does that sound?"

Sirius looked from his wife to Arthur.

"You're more than welcome to join us, Sirius. It'd be nice to have another adult, I'm sure. You could also invite Remus if he'd like to come. Completely up to you, of course."

Sirius smiled. "Well, it'd be nice to get out, and the Quidditch World Cup would certainly be a great time. If Anna and Harry wouldn't be too embarrassed having me around, I'd love to come." he answered, looking between Anna and Harry.

"I'd be fine with it." Anna answered, followed by Harry voicing his own agreement.

"And who knows?" Wren spoke up, "Maybe by then Harry will be living with us, but if not, he could come stay with us for the rest of the summer after the Cup. Does that sound alright, Harry?"

"Yeah!" Harry's face lit up and Anna noticed he bounced a bit in place.

"We can write a bit over the summer to figure out the details. Wren, if you aren't going, we could go to Diagon Alley that day to buy the kids' school things. Make a day of it." Molly suggested.

Wren quickly agreed, while Sirius turned to Ron.

"Oh, Ron, before I forget I've got something for you."

Ron, as well as the other kids, watched with curious interest as Sirius lifted something off the ground that had been sitting by his feet. It was covered in a cloth, which Anna now noticed was muffling some rather loud squawking.

"I figured I owed you, considering it's partially my fault you no longer have a rat." Sirius grinned a bit at him as he passed the object over. Ron took it and held it with one arm so his free hand could pull the fabric off.

Zooming around inside the cage was a small, gray owl just bigger than a fist with little tufts of feathers on his head.

"Really? This is mine?" Ron asked, looking at Sirius in shock.

"If you want him, yeah. He's rather hyper, but very eager to be put to work. Anna's owl Ariel finds him a bit annoying." Sirius added with a small smirk.

"Well, yeah, Ariel finds lots of friendly, hyper owls annoying. And people." Anna explained with a small smirk.

Ron was eyeing the owl uncertainly for a moment. Then, to everyone's shock, he carried the cage a few feet over and held it up to Crookshanks, who was in a cage on Hermione's trolley.

"What d'you reckon?" he asked the cat. "Definitely an owl?"

Crookshanks sniffed at the bird cage through the bars of his own cage before giving a loud purr over the noise of the station.

"That's good enough for me." Ron beamed, turning back to the others. "Thanks, Sirius."

"No problem." Sirius grinned back.

Unfortunately, they all had to go their separate ways soon after. Anna felt awful watching Harry slump away after his grumpy-looking uncle, but she hoped it wouldn't be for long. Worst case scenario, he'll be stuck there for a couple months before they pick him up for the Quidditch World Cup.


	15. OWLs

**I've got quite a few questions asking if there will be more chapters to this story, which I probably should've addressed after the last chapter, but yes, there will be more chapters. This book will also include** _ **Goblet of Fire**_ **, and maybe** _ **Order of the Phoenix**_ **, though I'll probably put** _ **OotP**_ **in the next book.**

 **This is a trilogy, so there will be one more book after this, and these stories will go all the way to the end of the** _ **Harry Potter**_ **books.**

 **Hope that answers everyone's questions, and thank you all for sticking with me and for all your wonderful reviews.**

 **Hope you all like this next chapter!**

 **XXX**

"Then James and I ran for it before he could catch us!"

Annabelle laughed along with her father, almost dropping her paintbrush in the process. He had just finished telling her a story of one of the many pranks him and James Potter had pulled in their Hogwarts years.

Anna and Sirius were currently in the spare room of the family's cottage, painting the walls a light blue for when Harry hopefully moved in. They were doing it the Muggle way simply to prolong the activity and give them more time to hang out. Sirius was also trying to find a job, but he hadn't had much success yet. Remus figured it was because he'd just been released from Azkaban, which people might think would leave him unstable.

They'd also built a rather large pen in the woods behind the house for Buckbeak, which they'd placed multiple strong Muggle-Repelling Charms on to keep nosy hiking neighbors away. Also, due to it being law, and the fact that Buckbeak is supposed to be dead, they had to remember to go out and put a Disillusionment Charm on him everyday just in case. They also frequently went out to spend time with Buckbeak, especially during lunch.

Wren, while working, was still trying to get custody of Harry, but it was as if someone was stonewalling them at every turn.

"You get any letters from Harry recently?" Anna asked curiously as she crouched down to paint the lower parts of the wall.

"Not since last week when he thanked us for all the sweets." Sirius answered.

Harry had written to just about everyone at the start of summer pleading for help and telling them his aunt was putting their whole family on a diet because of his cousin being overweight. Anna had sent him her leftover Honeydukes sweets, and her mum actually baked him a birthday cake and owled it to him a couple days before his birthday. Anna also had it on good authority, being Fred and George, that Hermione and the whole Weasley family was keeping Harry well stocked on food as well.

There was a light knock on the door, causing Anna and Sirius to pause and look up at Remus, who was standing in the doorway.

"It's looking good in here." Remus said with a smile. He was living with them for the foreseeable future. His room was in the basement, which was charmed and protected so on the full moon he couldn't get out and attack someone. Most of the charms were from back during the war when he would stay there during the full moon.

Wren had offered to make the Wolfsbane Potion for him, but it was rather expensive and complex so Remus refused to let her spend the money and take the time to make it. Like Sirius, he had also applied to several places for jobs, but had been turned down every time thus far.

"Thanks. What've you got there?" Anna asked, as she carefully painted the corner without getting the floor, glancing up at the parchment in Remus's hands.

"Ah, yes, I thought you might like to have a look at this." Remus grinned, waving what looked like a letter around. "It's addressed to you, and…I do believe this is the Hogwarts stamp on it."

"Give it!" Anna screamed, dropping her paint brush back in the pan and bolting across the room to snatch the envelope from his hand. She looked at it for a second before ripping it open to reveal the letter within.

 **ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS**

 _Pass Grades:_

Outstanding (O)

Exceeds Expectations (E)

Acceptable (A)

 _Fail Grades:_

Poor (P)

Dreadful (D)

Troll (T)

 _ **ANNABELLE ESME BLACK HAS ACHIEVED**_

 _Arithmancy: P_

 _Astronomy: A_

 _Care of Magical Creatures: O_

 _Charms: O_

 _Defense Against the Dark Arts: E_

 _Herbology: E_

 _History of Magic: E_

 _Potions: O_

 _Transfiguration: O_

"I did it." she sighed in relief when she realized she got all the OWLs she needed.

"Well, how'd you do? Are you as smart as your mother?" Sirius asked as he approached her and Remus.

Anna scanned her grades as she answered, "I got 'P' in Arithmancy," she admitted sheepishly, " But I got 'A' in Astronomy, 'O' in Care of Magical Creatures, Charms, Potions, and Transfiguration, and 'E' in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, and History of Magic. So that's…eight OWLs. Yes!" She threw her hands in the air, the letter in one hand.

"I don't doubt Snape is probably going to make your last two years in Potions hell." Remus remarked as he read over the letter.

XXX

' _Fred and George,_

 _I just got another brilliant idea for a product! My grandpa, you know, my mum's dad who's a Muggle, just sent me a box of taffy. It tastes a bit different from the stuff from Honeydukes, probably because it's made by Muggles and not wizards. Anyway, the brand is called 'Laffy Taffy' and it gave me an idea. What if we made a taffy that makes you laugh incessantly. I don't know, we could work out more details and stuff, just thought I'd run that idea by you._

 _Also, I looked over the new WWW order forms you sent over, and they seem fine. Just don't let your mum find these ones. And I'm sorry for your mum's reactions to your OWLs, but I also know you failed most of them on purpose. Don't worry, your guys' secret is safe with me._

 _Finally, say hi to Charlie and everybody. Can't wait to see all of you next week! I'm so excited it's hard to sleep at night!_

 _Love,_

 _Anna'_

Anna read the letter over briefly in case there was anything she wanted to add. Apparently Molly had happened upon their order forms for their joke shop and destroyed them. The twins had named their shop Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Anna thought the name was weird, but it was growing on her.

When she deemed the letter complete, she crossed the room to where Ariel was perched on her little tree.

"I've got a letter for you, Ariel. I need you to deliver this to Fred and George Weasley. _Do not_ let anyone else have it." she told her, letting the small owl perch on her hand as she walked her to her open bedroom window. Just as Ariel took off Anna had to duck as another owl swooped in the window.

Looking over her shoulder, Anna saw a beautiful Snowy Owl perch on the back of her desk chair.

"Hello Hedwig." Anna smiled, slowly approaching the owl to gently pet her head. Hedwig closed her eyes and clipped her beak happily. "I haven't seen you for a while. Is that a letter from Harry?" She tilted her head a bit and saw that the letter was addressed to her father, so she didn't try touching it. Hedwig was very loyal to Harry and therefore protective of his mail. "Here, let's go find my dad." she suggested, holding up her arm. Hedwig stepped onto Anna's forearm, and Anna carried her downstairs to where Sirius and Remus were sitting in the kitchen.

"Post for you, Dad." she announced as she entered the room. Hedwig fluttered off her arm and landed on the kitchen table, sticking her leg out to Sirius so he could take the letter.

Anna filled a bowl with water and set it in front of the owl, who hooted thanks and began drinking. When Anna looked up, Sirius was frowning worriedly at the letter.

"What's wrong? Is Harry alright?" she asked worriedly.

Sirius took a deep breath, his expression clearing as he looked from her to Remus. "It's nothing too serious, it's just…Harry said his scar is hurting." he admitted.

"The…scar on his head?" Anna checked uncertainly. She didn't know if Harry had any other scars, but she was fairly sure that's the one they were referring to.

Sirius nodded, and Remus looked just as concerned at this bit of news.

"Well,…sometimes old scars hurt, don't they?" Anna had no idea what was going on.

"It's not a big deal." Sirius assured her. "I'll write back to him right away. We haven't really told him when we're picking him up for the World Cup, anyway. He needs to be updated on that."

Anna nodded. "Well, I'm going to get some taffy from my room. Could you send it with your response? I think he may like some taffy."

Sirius nodded with a small smile. "I think he'll appreciate that, Anna."

Anna went to her room, placed a handful of taffies in a bag, and returned to the kitchen just as her father was signing his letter.

"Make sure you add a PS in there that I say hi and am sending him taffies." she suggested, dropping the bag next to the letter.

Sirius chuckled, but did as she asked. When he finished, he waved the letter around a bit to make the ink dry before folding it up and handing the letter and the bag to Hedwig. "There ya go, Hedwig. Take these to Harry, please."

Hedwig took them in her talons, hooted softly, and flew out the open kitchen window.

It wasn't long after Hedwig left that Wren stepped out of the fireplace, having just got off work.

"Alright, I've got good news and not really bad news on the Harry front." she announced promptly, setting down the takeout she'd brought on the kitchen table.

Sirius instantly sat up straight while Remus stood up and began getting plates out.

"What is it?" Sirius asked worriedly.

"Well, the good news is that I think I've finally made some progress on getting custody of him." Wren told him, slipping her cloak off her shoulders. Sirius quickly stood up and helped her out of her cloak, using his new wand, which they'd bought in Diagon Alley, to send it to the coat rack by the front door. Wren smiled and kissed his cheek in thanks. "The not really bad news is that they want to have a meeting with us. Nothing too bad, just to make sure we'd offer a stable home life for him. I'm sure they're a bit hesitant, considering what Azkaban did to you all those years. But you're much better, so we shouldn't have any problems." she assured him, brushing some of his long hair off his forehead before turning to start scooping food onto plates.

"If it helps any, you could mention to them that Harry and I have known each other and been on the Quidditch team together for a few years now." Anna told her as she grabbed her own plate and sat down. "And we wouldn't put bars on his bedroom window like his aunt and uncle did." she added pointedly.

Remus gave her a grin as he sat down with his own plate.

XXX

Anna stumbled out of the fireplace with her backpack over one shoulder on the Sunday before the Quidditch World Cup.

"Anna!" Molly Weasley instantly rushed forward and wrapped Anna in a tight hug, nearly cracking her ribs "Oh, sweetie, it's been too long! How's your summer been so far, dear?" she asked, pulling away again and gently leading Anna away from the fireplace so her parents could follow her out.

"It's been pretty great so far. Me, dad, and Remus have been setting up Harry's room most of the summer." Anna told her with a smile as her dad stepped out of the fireplace.

"Anna!" the twins' voices echoed as they leapt down the last couple steps and raced into the living room toward her. She had just enough time to open her arms for a hug before they practically tackled her, crushing her in a group hug.

"Charlie! Anna's here!" George called over Anna's head. Anna chuckled as she pulled away from him. Wren had followed Sirius out of the Floo, taking his hand when he offered it.

There were several pounding footsteps that came thundering down the steps.

Ginny bolted ahead of her brothers and gave Anna a hug that was nearly as enthusiastic as the twins', and there was only one of her. Anna hugged her back just as tightly. Ron waved at her when she pulled away, and Hermione stepped up to give her a hug. Then, Charlie stepped up and gave Anna a rib-cracking hug the second Hermione was out of the way. Anna laughed, her arms wrapping around Charlie's neck when he lifted her off the ground. His face was weather-beaten and darkly freckled, his arms more muscular than ever before, and he had a nice, shiny burn on one of them.

"Merlin, look how big you've gotten." Charlie laughed, setting her back down. "Or is that all your Metamorphmagus genes?"

Anna laughed. "No, I have grown a couple inches since last summer." she told him.

"Ah, so I finally get to meet the famous Annabelle Black." an unfamiliar voice spoke from over Charlie's shoulder.

Charlie moved over to let Anna see the only other Weasley she'd never met before.

Bill Weasley was tall with long, red hair pulled back into a ponytail. Knowing how Molly was, Anna guessed he'd been growing his hair out since he moved out, because his mother would've never let him do so under her roof. He also had in an earring with a fang dangling from it and was wearing ripped clothes that made him look like a punk rocker. Overall, he looked like the definition of a cool older brother.

He held out a hand and grinned at her. "I'm Bill. Nice to meet you."

Anna took it, returning the smile. "You too." She stepped back and her parents were soon introduced to those who didn't know them.

After introductions and greetings were finished, they all moved into the kitchen to sit and eat, even Percy came out of his room to eat at his mother's insistence. Anna sat between Fred and Charlie.

"Oh, Anna." Molly called from down the table a few minutes into the meal. "Tell us, how did you do on your OWLs?"

Judging by her tone and the way the twins rolled their eyes, she was certain OWLs had been a common topic this summer.

"Oh, um…I got eight." she answered hesitantly.

"That's very decent, Annabelle." Percy told her in a business-like tone. "I got 12 OWLs myself-"

"'Decent' my arse." Charlie scoffed at his brother, to which Molly snapped "Charlie!" He glanced around the table before looking at Anna. "Considering everything that happened last year…I mean, fifth year is stressful enough. Add in Quidditch practice, your issues with Flint, Buckbeak, your father escaping-no offense-" he added to Sirius, who nodded with a smirk, "you had a pretty eventful, stressful year. Eight OWLs is pretty great considering all that."

"Well, of course it is!" Molly insisted before Anna could thank Charlie. "Eight is a wonderful number of OWLs. At least it's more than _three_."

"Gee, I wonder who she's talking about." Fred whispered, plopping his elbow on the table and resting his cheek in his palm.

Fred and George told Anna in one of their letters earlier in the summer that they'd each received three OWLs. Fred got Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, and Transfiguration. George got the same, except instead of Transfiguration he got Herbology.

"So what classes did you get OWLs in?" Bill asked curiously before taking a bite of his sandwich.

"Um…" Anna thought to remember all her OWLs, "Care of Magical Creatures,"

"Big shocker." Charlie, Fred, and George muttered for the whole table to hear.

"Shut up." Anna smiled, kicking Charlie under the table. "Astronomy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Transfiguration, and Potions."

"So you managed to get Potions even though you blasted Snape into a wall?" Ron smirked at her.

"Thankfully, we don't get tested by our teachers. Some Ministry people come out and test us. I got an 'Outstanding' on my Potions exam. So I can move on to NEWT level in Potions." she stated with a proud smirk.

"Ugh. How unfortunate." said George.

"So are you going to take all of them your last couple years?" Arthur asked from the head of the table.

"All of them except Astronomy. The others I need for possible careers after school."

"What are you thinking of going into?" Hermione asked curiously.

"She won't tell you." George rolled his eyes. "She doesn't want to tell anyone until she decides. She's trying to choose between two of them."

Anna cleared her throat and glared pointedly at him, making him shut his mouth.

After lunch, everyone split up to do their own thing. Anna dropped off her backpack in Ginny's room before going up to the twins' room with them. She would be sleeping in Ginny's room with her and Hermione, Fred and George were sleeping in Ron's room with him and Harry, Bill and Charlie were staying in the twins' room, and Percy was in his own room alone so he could work.

"So, we're going to pick Harry up in about four hours, then." Anna noted, sitting on the edge of George's bed while Fred shut the door.

They had already agreed about a week back that they'd pick Harry up the day before the Quidditch World Cup, and then Harry could stay with either the Blacks or the Weasleys the remainder of the summer. However, Anna's parents received a letter that morning that they _finally_ gained custody of Harry over his aunt and uncle, so they'd sent another letter to Harry to pack up everything because he wouldn't have to go back to the Dursleys' ever again.

"So, has Lupin decided if he's coming?" George asked curiously as he pulled a small box from his underwear drawer.

"Yeah, he is. The full moon isn't till the start of September so he'll be fine, maybe a bit tired. Unfortunately, he won't be able to say goodbye to us when we leave for Hogwarts."

"Is it weird? Having him living with you?" Fred asked, pulling their rewritten order forms out from his pillow case.

"Hm. Only as weird as having my dad home and thinking that Harry will probably be joining us after the Cup. It's actually been rather nice having more people at home during the day while my mum's at work. Both Remus and dad are trying to find jobs, but none have gotten back to them so far."

"That sucks. Especially for Lupin, he was the best Defense teacher we've ever had." said Fred, plopping down on the bed next to Anna.

"Who d'you think we'll get this year?" George asked, sitting cross-legged at the end of his bed and setting the box down between them.

"Well, I doubt they could be much better than Remus, and they can't possibly be worse than Lockhart. So, we'll just have to see." Anna commented, making the twins laugh as she popped open the box to look inside. "These the finished toffees?"

"Yep. We haven't really had the chance to test them out on anyone yet. We were thinking Ron or Bill, but…" George trailed off with a smirk.

"Then we remembered Harry writing about their whole family being on a diet at the beginning of summer." Fred pointed out.

"Do you really think his uptight aunt or uncle are going to take a toffee that came from two weird wizarding children?" Anna asked them with a raised eyebrow.

"No. But his cousin will." Fred and George answered promptly.

Anna smirked deviously. "You two are brilliant."

"Obviously."

They sat in their room for the rest of the day, going over their order forms and writing out a few more ideas of products, including making notes on the "Laughing Taffy" Anna had suggested, and putting in some last minute suggestions on the Canary Creams they'd thought up last year. A few times they had to scramble to hide everything when someone popped their head in on them, but overall no one bothered them much.

"What if we made a sweet that could make you ill?" George suddenly suggested.

"You mean make the victim ill? And what kind of 'ill'?" Anna asked, unsure what he meant.

"No, make yourself ill to get out of class."

"Brilliant idea!" Fred beamed at his twin.

"Yeah, great idea, except you're ill." Anna pointed out slowly. "Skipping class is fun and all, but not when you're actually sick."

Fred and George looked at each other and stared for several silent moments before nodding once and turning back to Anna.

"What if we made the sweets have two ends? One end makes you sick, the other makes you better so you can enjoy your hour of freedom." Fred explained.

Anna nodded slowly. "Alright, that's definitely got potential. But what kind of illness?"

"What about…vomiting?" George suggested.

"You get out of class pretty quick when you get a nosebleed." Anna pointed out.

"Or a fever." Fred added.

"But which one?" Anna asked.

George's face lit up. "Who says we have to pick one?" he demanded excitedly. "Why not make different kinds? A whole collection of them, like Every Flavor Beans? Then you can have your pick of which one to use that day."

"Great idea!" Anna beamed, snatching the parchment and quill Fred had been holding and placing them on the box of toffees so she'd have a hard surface to write on. "So puking, nosebleed, fever…We can add on more if we think of any others, but that's good for now. We can try and figure out how to make them this year."

"I suppose it _is_ a good thing you're in Potions this year." Fred said in a long-suffering voice even as he grinned at her, "Never know if you might find something useful in that class. Thanks for taking one for the team, Anna."

Anna reached forward and shoved his shoulder, making him topple over and almost fall off the bed. They were all laughing hysterically, their stomachs starting to ache.

"Well, I doubt your mother would be happy if she walked in on this." an amused voice spoke from the doorway, making them all snap their mouths shut and face the door.

Sirius was grinning at them, his arms crossed and shoulder against the doorway. His eyes swept the mess around them, which George scrambled to hide.

"No need to hide it from me, I'm not going to run to your mother. In fact, it sounds like you've got some good ideas. Might want to consider selling some of those." he suggested with a wink.

The twins beamed. Obviously, getting pranking praise from one of the Marauders was as good as receiving a gold medal to them.

"Anyway, I came up to tell you three we're leaving soon to pick up Harry. I figured you'd prefer me walking in on this little brainstorming session than your mother."

"Alright, thanks Dad." Anna smiled, helping the twins gather up their things and hide them around the room. When they finished, they hurried down the stairs to stand among the others who were going: Arthur, Sirius, and Ron.

"Right, I managed to pull some strings to connect Harry's aunt and uncle's house to the Floo network just for the evening." Arthur explained. "I'll go in first, Sirius if you'd like to go second, and then the kids can follow us, or if you'd want to go last. It's up to you."

"I'll probably go second. The kids can go in whatever order they'd like." Sirius answered, giving Wren a kiss on the cheek before approaching the fireplace with Arthur.

Arthur started up the fireplace and grabbed a pinch of Floo powder from the bucket on the mantle. He tossed it into the fireplace, stepped into the now-green fire, and shouted, "Four Privet Drive!" With a flash of green flames, he was swept away. Sirius quickly did the same, followed by Fred, and then Anna.

Anna stepped into the flames as soon as Fred was gone. She was swept away, but instead of stumbling out she crashed into what felt like someone's back.

"Ow!"

"No, go back, there's been some kind of mistake." Arthur was telling them urgently, "Tell George not to-"

"OUCH!" Anna shouted again when George smacked into her own back so that she was sandwich between the twins.

"George, no, there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron-"

"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad," Fred suggested. "maybe he'll be able to let us out."

Anna jumped when Fred, and then George, began banging their fists on the walls around them.

"Harry! Harry, can you hear us?" George shouted.

A few moments later, over the banging, Anna heard Harry's voice through the wall.

"Mr. Weasley? Can you hear me?"

"Shh!" Anna smacked Fred's back so they'd stop banging.

"Mr. Weasley, it's Harry…the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there."

"Damn." Sirius muttered from up ahead.

"What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?" Arthur asked.

"They've got an electric fire." Harry explained.

"Really?" Arthur's voice was suddenly excited and Anna couldn't help rolling her eyes. "Electric, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that…Let's think…ouch, Ron!"

Ron had joined them inside the fireplace, shoving George into Anna's back.

"What are we doing here?" Ron asked from behind George. "Has something gone wrong?"

"Oh no, Ron." Fred told him in a very sarcastic voice. "No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up."

"Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here." George mumbled into the back of Anna's head.

"Boys, boys…I'm trying to think what to do…Yes…only way…"

"Stand back, Harry." Sirius suggested after Arthur's mumbling, clearly having an idea what Arthur was going to do.

Anna heard a man's voice say something, but then there was a loud BANG.

Anna was shot out of the fireplace with the others as the fireplace was burst from the wall, a cloud of rubble and loose chippings showering them as they stepped out.

"That's better." panted Arthur, brushing dust from his long, green robes and straightening his glasses. "Ah-you must be Harry's aunt and uncle."

Arthur approached them with his hand outstretched, as if to shake hands, but Harry's uncle backed away several steps, dragging his wife with him, who had clearly been knocked over from the blast. Anna glanced over and realized her father was looking at both of them with utmost disdain.

"Er-yes-sorry about that." Arthur lowered his hand and looked over his shoulder at the blasted fireplace. "It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see-just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking-but I've got a useful contact at the Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the boys back, and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate."

Anna suspected the Dursleys didn't take in anything Arthur said. The skinny aunt stumbled upright and hid behind her husband.

"Hello, Harry." Sirius beamed down at Harry. "Ready to leave this place once and for all?"

"You have no idea." Harry grinned back.

"Got all your things packed?" Arthur asked him.

"Yeah, everything's in my room." Harry nodded.

"We'll get it." Fred offered instantly. He gave Harry a wink and headed for the stairs, Anna and George following him. Anna followed mostly to get out of what was sure to be an awkward environment in the living room, but she was also curious what the place looked like.

Fred and George, having been here before to rescue Harry their fourth year, lead her quickly to his bedroom. It was rather small, and the contents made it feel even more so, in Anna's opinion. There was a bed near the window, Harry's trunk was sitting on the bed waiting for them, Hedwig was in her cage sitting atop a desk next to a lamp, a wardrobe next to it, and a bedside table with another lamp.

"So, how're we going to slip Dudley a toffee?" Anna whispered as she picked up Hedwig's cage. The owl hooted softly in greeting, flapping her wings for a moment.

"I think I'll drop one when we see him. You two seen any signs of him so far?" Fred asked. George and Anna shook their heads.

"There's a couple more bedrooms down the hall. We could pop our heads in." George suggested.

"Alright, let's get a move on." Anna waved them out of the room. George picked up Harry's trunk and Fred lead the way out of the room. They waited by Harry's door while Fred popped his head in the other rooms. He walked back to them shaking his head.

"He's not in any of them, so he must be downstairs."

"Probably in the kitchen while his mummy's distracted." Anna smirked.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Fred and George worked together to slide the heavy trunk down the stairs, making it clunk against nearly every step. Anna followed them slowly, holding Hedwig's cage.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner back into the living room. All three of them spotted Dudley trying to hide himself behind his father. Anna managed to control her facial expression, while the twins didn't even bother trying to hide their identical, evil smirks.

"Ah, right." Arthur spoke up when they entered the room. "Better get cracking then." He pushed up the sleeves of his robes and took out his wands. The Dursleys drew back against the wall.

" _Incendio_!" Arthur pointed his wand at the hole in the wall that used to be the fireplace. Flames roared to life at once, crackling away as if they were hours old rather than seconds.

Sirius passed Arthur a small bag, which Arthur pulled a handful of Floo powder from. He tossed it into the fire, which turned green and roared higher.

"Off you go then, Fred." said Arthur.

"Coming. Oh no-hang on-"

Anna smothered down her smirk as a bag of sweets spilled out of Fred's pocket, toffees in brightly colored wrappers rolling in every direction. Anna and George looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, mischievous expressions in their eyes if not their faces.

Fred scrambled about, picking up the toffees and stuffing them in his pockets. Only Anna and George saw that he missed one by the coffee table. Standing back up, Fred gave the Dursleys a cheery wave, walked right into the fire saying "the Burrow", and was swept away.

"Right then, George," said Arthur, turning to his other son, "you and the trunk."

Harry helped George carry the trunk into the flames and turn it onto its end so he could hold it better. Then, George cried out "the Burrow" and was swept away.

"Anna, you next." Sirius told her, waving toward the fireplace. Anna kept the disappointment off her face as she stepped toward the fire. She really wanted to see if Dudley ate the toffee, and what happened when he did.

She stepped into the fire and shouted "the Burrow", a grin appearing on her face as she spotted Dudley leaning down toward the toffee on the ground. In a flash of green flames, she was swept away with Hedwig's cage in her hands.

She stepped out of the fire and into the Burrow's kitchen.

"You see anything?" Fred asked quietly, him and George looking at her with suppressed excitement.

"I think he picked it up just as I was leaving." she whispered to them, moving to the side of the room with them and setting the cage on the ground.

Ron stepped out of the fireplace next, and then there was a long pause before anyone else came out.

"What's taking so long?" Ron asked worriedly as most everyone moved into the kitchen to wait. It was just Anna, the twins, Charlie, and Bill.

Finally, Harry tumbled out of the fireplace.

"Did he eat it?" Fred asked excitedly, pulling Harry to his feet by the hand.

"Yeah." Harry answered as he straightened up. "What was it?"

"Ton-Tongue Toffee." Fred answered brightly. "George, Anna, and I invented them, and we've been looking for someone to test them on all summer…"

Laughter filled the kitchen as Anna sat at the table next to Charlie.

"How're you doing, Harry?" Charlie greeted him, holding out his hand for Harry to shake.

Bill got to his feet with a smile and shook Harry's hand from across the table.

Before the greetings could continue much farther, there were two popping sounds and Arthur appeared at George's shoulder, and Sirius next to him. While Sirius looked mildly amused, Anna had never seen Arthur look so angry.

"That _wasn't funny_ , Fred!" he shouted. "What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?"

"I didn't give him anything." said Fred with another evil grin. "I just _dropped_ it…It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to."

"You dropped it on purpose!" Arthur roared. "You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet-"

"How big did his tongue get?" George asked eagerly. Anna personally thought his timing was horrible, but at least it might make Arthur stop yelling.

"It was four feet long before his parents would let Arthur fix it." Sirius told them, also smirking.

Anna laughed along with everyone else. She let her head drop on her arms atop the table, her whole body shaking with her laughter.

"It _isn't funny_!" Arthur shouted over the noise. "That sort of behavior seriously undermines wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of Muggles, and my own sons-"

"We didn't give it to him because he's a Muggle!" Fred exclaimed indignantly.

"No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git." George added. "Isn't he, Harry?"

"Yeah, he is Mr. Weasley." Harry agreed earnestly.

"That's not the point!" Arthur roared. "You wait until I tell your mother-"

"Tell me what?" asked a familiar, dangerous voice.

Molly had just entered the kitchen with her eyes narrowed with suspicion, Wren at her side.

"Oh, hello Harry, dear." she greeted him before her eyes snapped back to her husband. "Tell me _what_ , Arthur?"

Arthur hesitated, which made Anna hide her grin behind her hand. Clearly he hadn't really been planning on telling his wife on the twins. No matter how angry he was, no one wanted to face an angry Molly Weasley.

Ginny and Hermione appeared behind Molly. They both smiled at Harry in greeting and Anna noticed that when Harry smiled back, Ginny's face went bright red. Anna's smile became a smirk behind her hand. Ginny obviously hadn't gotten over her crush on Harry.

"Tell me _what_ , Arthur?" Molly repeated in a dangerous voice. Sirius took a step away from Arthur, leaving him alone in the line of fire.

"It's nothing, Molly." Arthur mumbled. "Fred and George just-but I've had words with them-"

"What have they done this time?" Molly snapped. "If it's got anything to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes-"

"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" Hermione suggested from the doorway, clearly wanting to get out of the room before Molly blew up.

"He knows where he's sleeping," said Ron, dim as ever, "in my room, he slept there last-"

"We can all go." said Hermione pointedly.

"Oh." Ron finally caught on. "Right."

"Yeah, we'll come too." George tried.

" _You stay where you are_!" Molly snarled.

Harry and Ron slipped out of the kitchen and followed Hermione and Ginny up the stairs.

"Molly-" Arthur tried to speak in a calming voice.

"I told you two to get rid of that rubbish!" Molly shrieked at the twins. "No wonder you didn't get any OWLs, wasting time on such garbage!"

Anna bit her lip, looking anxiously over at the twins. On the outside, they appeared to be unaffected by their mother's words, but Anna knew on the inside they were at least slightly hurt.

"Um, Mrs. Weasley…?" Anna spoke up hesitantly.

"And you two have dragged a sweet, innocent girl like Annabelle into it!" Molly ranted, gesturing to Anna, who instantly blushed. "She was perfectly well-behaved until you two dragged her into your pranking nonsense! Now she gets detentions as often as you two!"

"I wouldn't say she's completely innocent, Molly." Wren pointed out, resting her hand on Molly's shoulders. "After all, look who her father is."

"But still, that's not genetic." Molly argued. "Your brothers don't cause this much trouble." she continued to the twins. "They were all prefects, getting good grades and several OWLs each. You two can't say any of that. Now, what damage did you do this time? Come on, out with it. _What did you do?"_

The twins exchanged a silent glance.

"All I did was drop a candy on the ground." Fred answered honestly. "I can't help it if he ate it, that was his choice. Everyone knows you shouldn't eat something off the ground when you don't know what it is."

Charlie snorted next to Anna and she fought a smile. Laughing wouldn't be smart considering how red Molly's face was turning.

"What did it do him? Hm? What did your horrible candies do to the poor boy?"

"I wouldn't call him a 'poor boy'." George muttered.

"George!"

"It just made his tongue grow a bit, Molly." Arthur rushed to his wife's side, trying to calm her. "It wasn't too bad. I fixed it right as rain, no problem. Now, why don't we all set up for dinner. We don't have quite enough room in here, so we can go set everything up outside in the garden while you and Wren make dinner. How's that sound, dear?"

Molly huffed, fixing her eyes on the twins. "Alright, fine, but you two will get rid of those horrible candies. All of them! If I find anything else to do with Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes I will destroy it all! I mean it!"

Chairs scraped the kitchen floor as everyone stood up and hurried outside before she changed her mind. Anna almost tripped over an orange blur as Crookshanks streaked by, chasing a couple cackling gnomes.

"Well, you two are lucky your dad's so nice." Anna pointed out as her and the twins stopped near some bushes.

"Yeah, yeah." they mumbled, rolling their eyes.

"While I can see why your mum's upset, you know I'm on your side, right?" she checked, making them look up from where they'd been examining their worn shoes. "I know you two. I know you practically failed some of those exams on purpose. If you'd put half the effort into studying that you do on your joke shop, you could've easily scraped up a few more 'Acceptable's or better. However, I also know that you're passionate about your joke products. You love it. That's why you didn't put in the effort to study."

Fred and George grinned at her.

"Aw, you're so sweet." they cooed, reaching out to pinch one of her cheeks each. Anna laughed, leaning away and whacking their hands away from her face.

They were interrupted by a loud bang. Glancing at each other curiously, they hurried around to the other side of the house. Rounding the corner, they found Bill and Charlie with their wands out, making two battered tables high above their heads smash into each other.

Anna laughed as the twins began cheering. Ginny and Hermione joined them a moment later carrying plates, Harry and Ron soon after with cutlery. Ginny was laughing like Anna, Harry and Ron started cheering, and Hermione looked torn between amusement and anxiety.

The battle was fairly even until Bill's table caught Charlie's with a huge bang, knocking a leg off.

There was a clatter overhead and Anna turned to look up at the house. Percy had thrown his window open on the second floor, his glaring face poking out at them.

"Will you keep it down?!" he bellowed at them.

"Sorry Perce." Bill grinned up at him, freezing their battle. "How're the cauldron bottoms coming on?"

"Very badly." Percy answered crossly before slamming the window shut.

Chuckling, Bill and Charlie returned the tables to the grass, end to end, and Bill reattached the leg of Charlie's table with a flick of his wand. With another flick, he also conjured table cloths from thin air and draped them over the tables.

By 7:00 the tables were both groaning under multiple dishes worth of Molly's cooking. Once everything Molly and Wren cooked was placed on the tables, everyone sat down to eat beneath the clear, deep blue sky.

Anna served herself some of her favorites before getting pulled into a conversation about the Quidditch World Cup. She could vaguely hear Percy telling his father at the end of the tables about his cauldron report, mentioning something about a Ministry employee being missing for over a month now. And nearby Molly and Bill were arguing over his hair and new earring. Then Percy cleared his throat loudly and Anna glanced over at him.

" _You_ know the one I'm talking about, Father." he said in a slightly-raised voice. "The top-secret one."

Anna rolled her eyes and saw the twins doing the same. Percy had mentioned at least a few times recently about some top secret event that was happening, but he wouldn't give any other information. Now he was just rubbing it in their faces.

"It's got to be Ireland." Charlie continued their conversation thickly around a mouthful of potato. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."

"Bulgaria has got Viktor Krum, though." Fred pointed out.

"You can't win a match based entirely on your Seeker." Anna pointed out. "You need good Chasers to actually score goals, and Ireland's got some of the best Chasers in the league. Bulgaria's Chasers are mediocre."

"I wish England had got through." Charlie voiced. "That was embarrassing, that was."

"What happened?" Harry asked eagerly. Anna expected he was keen to know what he'd been missing out on in the wizarding world the past couple months.

"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten." Charlie explained gloomily. "Shocking performance. And Wales lost to Uganda, and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."

As their conversations continued, and the night drew on, Arthur conjured up candles to light the darkening garden as Molly brought out her homemade strawberry ice cream.

Anna savored every bite, leaning back in her chair and letting the sweet dessert melt in her mouth. She didn't want the night to end, despite what tomorrow was. She closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath through her nose. The warm, summer breeze smelled of fresh grass and honeysuckle. She could still hear lazy conversation and the mad cackling of gnomes who were still being chased by Crookshanks.

"Look at the time." Anna opened her eyes and looked over at Molly, who was now looking down at her wristwatch. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you-you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, if you leave your school list out, Wren and I will get your things for you tomorrow in Diagon Alley. We're getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."

"Wow-hope it does this time!" Harry said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, right up till school starts." Anna added with a grin.

"Well I certainly don't." Percy said pompously, ever the wet blanket. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days."

"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce?" Fred smirked.

Percy went very red in the face while Anna and Charlie both snorted into their empty bowls.

"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway! It was nothing _personal_!"

Fred leaned down to whisper to Harry as everyone started getting up. "It was. We sent it."

Everyone helped bring the dishes inside, where Anna said goodbye to her parents. While her mum wasn't coming to the World Cup, her dad was. He was staying the night at home, while her and Harry slept at the Burrow, and then him and Remus would arrive early the next morning in time to leave with them.


	16. Quidditch World Cup

Annabelle was woken up loudly and much too early by Molly Weasley's voice yelling for them to wake up.

Groaning, Anna sat up and pushed the blanket off her legs to ward off the temptation of the warm bed. She climbed from the bed and chucked her pillow at Ginny's head, since she'd ignored her mother's wake up call.

"Ginny, get up." Anna called.

Ginny grumbled something and dragged herself out of bed while Anna knelt down by her backpack, digging through it to grab her change of clothes and hairbrush.

The girls got ready as quick as they could and headed downstairs for breakfast. There was quiet chatter among the boys when they neared the kitchen.

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny grumbled, rubbing her as eyes as she sat at the table.

"We've got a bit of a walk." Arthur answered, already sitting at the table and eating. Anna waved at her own father and Remus, who were sitting next to him.

Anna sat next to Fred, who smirked at her.

"Well, don't you look like a ray of sunshine." he teased in a whisper. Anna elbowed him in the ribs before taking a bite of her warm breakfast.

"Walk?" Harry asked. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"

"No, that's miles away." Remus answered, shaking his head.

"We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup-"

"George!" Molly snapped, making everyone jump.

"What?" George asked innocently, which probably fooled no one. Anna fought very hard to keep her own expression innocent as she continued eating. The twins had planned on smuggling some of their Ton-Tongue Toffees to the Cup to try selling a few. At their suggestion, Anna had some in her own backpack, which were probably more likely to make it past Molly's all-seeing eyes.

"What is that in your pocket?" Molly demanded.

"Nothing!"

"Don't you lie to me!" With that, Molly pointed her wand at George and said, " _Accio!_ "

Several small, familiar, brightly colored candies flew out of George's pocket. He made a grab for them, but missed, and they sped right into his mother's hand.

"We told you to destroy them!" Molly snapped furiously. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"

Anna winced and watched with actual pain in her chest as the twins pulled about two handfuls each from their jean pockets. She expected there were more than that, so she wasn't surprised when Molly drew her wand again and began repeatedly yelling, " _Accio!_ "

The twins, indeed, had been creative in hiding the toffees. They zoomed out of all kinds of places like the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans. Anna actually flinched and went red in the face when about a dozen flew out of her backpack. Everyone stared at her when that happened.

Molly gathered the whole lot of them and tossed them in the trash.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted angrily.

"Oh, a fine way to spend six months!" she shrieked. "No wonder you didn't get more OWLs!"

Molly ranted and raved through the rest of breakfast, and honestly, Anna stopped listening a few minutes in. Finally, Arthur interrupted her tirade by announcing they should get going if they want to catch their Portkey on time.

Molly was still glowering as she kissed Arthur on the cheek, but the twins were worse. They grabbed their rucksacks and walked right out the door without a word to their mother.

"Well, have a lovely time, and _behave yourselves_!" she called at their backs, the last two words clearly directed more at the twins than anyone else. "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday."

It was still quite dark out as they made their way across the yard. The moon was still out and it was chilly enough that Anna pulled her hands inside the sleeves of her jumper. The twins walked way ahead of everyone else, Harry walked with Arthur, Ron, Sirius, and Remus, clearly wanting to know more about the Quidditch World Cup, and Anna hung back to walk with Ginny and Hermione. They were walking toward Stoatshead Hill, where the Portkey was waiting for them.

"So, can I ask you something?" Ginny asked quietly, glancing past Hermione in the middle to Anna on the other side.

"Me? Sure." Anna shrugged.

"Well,…have you ever had a boyfriend?"

Anna stumbled over a dip in the ground and quickly righted herself. "Um…no. Why?"

"Just wondering." Ginny shrugged, one corner of her lips tugging up in a tiny smirk. "Do you like anyone?"

"Not like that." Anna answered at once, a very mild grimace on her face.

"No one at all?" Hermione butted in.

"No." Anna answered, looking between the two suspiciously.

"What about…Well, I know you're very close with the twins." Ginny pointed out.

Anna rolled her eyes. "They're my best friends. Of course I'm close with them."

"So you've never thought about dating one of them?" Hermione asked, looking doubtful.

"Well,…it's hard not to think about it when most of my girl friends have suggested it multiple times." Anna admitted. Indeed, Alicia, Angelina, and even Katie had suggested it at some point. Or teased her about it. Is there really a difference?

"Well,…what about Charlie?" Ginny asked.

"Date Charlie?" Anna asked in a very quiet whisper so none of the others could hear their conversation. "Are you serious? He's five years older than me."

"Well, you're really close with him. The twins tease you all the time about Charlie being your favorite Weasley." Ginny pointed out. "And everything your first year? You two were really close."

"He was the only person who would talk to me my first year, that doesn't have to mean future romance." Anna pointed out. "I see Charlie as a close friend, or an older brother. I know I can count on him, but that doesn't immediately mean I want to date him."

"So, one of the twins?" Ginny jumped back to the original topic with a grin.

Anna glared at her. "How about we change the subject? What about you and Harry?" she whispered with a smirk.

Ginny instantly went red in the face and snapped her head forward to check no one was within hearing distance. "Shut up." she hissed, looking back at Anna.

"I will if you will." Anna smirked at her.

Luckily, they couldn't continue speaking because walking up Stoatshead Hill took all their energy and breath. They all stumbled occasionally, slipping on slick patches of grass. Anna started to feel a sharp pain in her ribs, her legs aching with each upward step. Her feet were freezing to the point she couldn't feel her toes.

Finally, the hill started to level out, making their steps easier.

"Whew." panted Arthur up ahead, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his sweater. "Well, we've made good time-we've got ten minutes…"

Anna rested her hands on her knees, bent over to catch her breath while Hermione paused next to her, clutching a stitch in her side.

"Now we just need the Portkey." Remus said, his flaring nostrils the only indicator that he was out of breath. "It won't be big…Come on…"

They all spread out, searching for what could be a Portkey. They were only at it for a couple minutes when an unfamiliar shout echoed in the still air.

"Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!"

Anna looked over from the bush she'd been searching in to see two tall figures silhouetted against the starry sky on the other side of the hilltop.

"Amos!" Arthur smiled as he approached the man who had shouted. Everyone else quickly followed.

Arthur shook hands with a ruddy-faced wizard with a scrubby-brown beard, who was holding a moldy-looking boot in his opposite hand.

"This is Amos Diggory, everyone." said Arthur. "He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

Cedric Diggory, the Captain and Seeker of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team, smiled around at the other students.

"Hi."

Everyone said 'hi' back except Fred and George, who just nodded. Anna didn't even have to guess, she knew they were still sore at him for beating their team the year before.

Arthur quickly introduced Amos to Sirius and Remus, which was a tad awkward. Amos obviously knew of Anna's father from all the wanted posters the year before, though he also obviously knew Sirius was proven innocent. It was also a bit awkward when Cedric and Remus greeted each other and Amos realized Remus was their old Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who was a werewolf.

"Long walk, Arthur?" Amos asked, moving on to another topic.

"Not too bad." Arthur shrugged. "We live just on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we, Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparation test. Still…not complaining…Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons-and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy…" Amos peered good-naturedly around at the three Weasley boys, Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Anna. "All these yours, Arthur?"

"Oh, no, only the redheads." Arthur said, pointing out his own children. "This is Annabelle, Sirius's daughter and a close friend of the twins'. This is Hermione, friend of Ron's-and Harry, another friend-"

"Merlin's beard." said Amos, his eyes widening. "Harry! Harry _Potter_?"

"Er-yeah." said Harry, looking very obviously uncomfortable.

"Ced's talked about you, of course." said Amos. "Told us all about playing against you last year…I said to him, I said-Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will… _You beat Harry Potter_!"

Harry clearly looked at a loss for words. And for once, Anna agreed with what the twins were clearly thinking as they scowled at Mr. Diggory. She, herself, was thinking certain thoughts her mother would smack her for. Seriously, how rude could one be? Remus had his hand on Sirius's shoulder, whispering most likely something calming into his ear because her father looked as angry as the twins. At least Cedric seemed to have the decency to look embarrassed.

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad." he muttered. "I told you…it was an accident…"

"Yes, but _you_ didn't fall off, did you?" Amos roared amiably, slapping his son on the back. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman…but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"

"Excuse me, Mr. Diggory?" Anna spoke up, reining her temper in. Her father and friends were looking at her in shock. "I'm sorry, but I'd just like to ask…Have you ever been in the presence of a dementor? I somehow don't think so, because if you did you'd have some sympathy for the situation." Amos Diggory looked mildly taken aback. "The demontors swarmed the Quidditch pitch during that match. That's what made Harry fall. See, dementors pull your worst memory to the front of your mind. Harry's fairly famous for the worst possible night of his life, so I'm sure you can guess what the dementors do to him. I just think it's a tad bit rude to rub it in his face right now. Especially considering the match we played against Hufflepuff the year before, Harry caught the Snitch within five minutes-

Remus loudly cleared his throat. "Well, it's nearly time, I'm sure." Sirius was fighting a grin, Harry was giving her an embarrassed yet grateful smile, and the twins looked like Christmas came early. To Anna's surprise, Cedric didn't look angry at her, just embarrassed by his father's earlier rambling. He actually gave her a small, apologetic smile.

"Right." Arthur quickly latched on to the distraction and looked down at his watch. "Do you know if we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

"Um, no, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets." Amos stuttered, finding his footing after a moment. "There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"

"Not that I know of." Arthur answered. "Yes, it's a minute off…We'd better get ready…"

Sirius stepped up between Harry and Hermione to tell them, "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all. A finger will do."

It was very difficult and awkward, trying to crowd twelve people, most with bulky backpacks, around a moldy boot. Anna had to squeeze in between Fred and Ginny, turning sideways just to touch the boot with her pointer finger.

They all stood very still, waiting patiently as a cool breeze swept the hill.

"Three…" muttered Arthur, his eyes still on his watch. "Two…one…"

The Portkey acted instantly. It was like a hook grabbed Anna's insides just behind her navel and suddenly jerked her forward. Her feet left the ground and she smacked into both Fred and Ginny as they all sped forward into the howling wind. Colors and shapes blurred by, Anna's finger stuck to the old boot so that she couldn't remove it even if she wanted to. They swirled for several moments and then suddenly her feet slammed into the ground. Ginny stumbled into her, and she into Fred, who tumbled to the ground with them partially on him.

Anna groaned, pushing herself off Fred's back and looking up. All the adults and Cedric were still standing, though they looked very windswept, but everyone else was sprawled around the ground, the Portkey in the middle of them all.

Then, an unfamiliar voice interrupted their groaning.

"Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill."

Anna shoved herself off Fred and sat up, looking around. They were now on a deserted stretch of moor, mist hanging low over the ground. In front of them was a pair of tired, grumpy-looking wizards, one of which was holding a large, gold watch and the other a thick roll of parchment and a quill. They were both dressed very strangely, as if they tried to dress as Muggles but weren't very well educated on how to do so. The man holding the watch was wearing a tweed suit with thigh-length galoshes and the other man was wearing a kilt and a poncho.

"Morning Basil." Arthur greeted one of them as he picked up their Portkey. Fred offered both Anna and Ginny a hand each and pulled them to their feet. Arthur handed the boot to the wizard in the poncho, who tossed it into a large box of what Anna guessed were other used Portkeys. Other items included an old newspaper, an empty can, and a deflated football.

"Hello there, Arthur." Basil greeted him tiredly. "Not on duty, eh? It's alright for some…We've been here all night…You'd better get out of the way, we've got a big party coming in from the Black Forest at 5:15. Hang on, I'll find your campsite…Weasley…Weasley…" he scanned through the long parchment before him. "About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to. Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory…second field…ask for Mr. Payne."

"Thanks, Basil." said Arthur, beckoning everyone to follow him.

They set off across the deserted moor, the mist making it very difficult to see. A small stone cottage next to a gate came into view after about twenty minutes. Through the mist beyond it, Anna could barely make out what she guessed were hundreds upon hundreds of tents.

They said goodbye to the Diggorys here and approached the cottage door. Once the Diggorys were out of earshot, the twins bent down from their spots on either side of Anna.

"I can't believe you told that wanker off!" Fred hissed gleefully.

"It was bloody fantastic!" George added. "Best thing I've seen in my life."

"Shut up." Anna laughed quietly, shoving both their shoulders. "I was sick of him giving Harry a hard time. I mean, what kind of person does that? It was immature and mean."

They fell silent as Arthur greeted the man standing in the doorway of the cottage. It was clear he was actually a Muggle, and Anna hoped this went alright.

"Morning!" Arthur greeted the man brightly.

"Morning." he greeted back.

"Would you be Mr. Roberts?"

"Aye, I would. And who're you?"

"Weasley-two tents, booked a couple of days ago?"

Anna's parents had offered their own small tent so the girls would have a separate tent.

"Aye." said Mr. Roberts, checking a list that was tacked to the door. "You've got a space up by the wood there. Just the one night?"

"That's it." Arthur nodded.

"You'll be paying now, then?"

"Ah-right-certainly." Arthur stuttered slightly, retreating a couple steps to stand with Remus. They bent close together and whispered for a bit. Anna expected Remus was helping him figure out the Muggle money, since he had a bit of experience with that.

Anna shifted nervously. She could tell by the way Mr. Roberts was watching them, tilting his head ever-so-slightly, that he was trying to hear what they were saying.

"You foreign?" he asked when Arthur finally returned with the correct amount of Muggle money.

"Foreign?" Arthur repeated curiously.

"You're not the first one who's had trouble with money." answered Mr. Roberts, looking at Arthur and Remus closely. "I had two try and pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps ten minutes ago."

"Did you really?" asked Arthur nervously.

Mr. Roberts rummaged around in his tin for some change.

"Never been this crowded." he noted suddenly, looking out toward the many tents in the distance. "Hundreds of pre-bookings. People usually just turn up…"

"Is that right?" asked Arthur, holding out his hand for the change, but Mr. Roberts didn't give it to him.

"Aye. People from all over. Loads of foreigners,. And not just foreigners. Weirdos, you know? There's a bloke walking 'round in a kilt and a poncho."

Arthur began stuttering, trying to think up something to put the guy off, when a wizard in plus-fours appeared out of thin air next to them.

" _Obliviate_!" he said sharply, wand pointed at Mr. Roberts. The Muggle's eyes went out of focus, his brows smoothed out, and a dreamy, unconcerned look fell over his face. His memory had just been modified.

"A map of the campsite for you." said Mr. Roberts calmly. "And your change."

"Thanks very much." Arthur told him, taking both.

The wizard in plus-fours accompanied them toward the gate to the campsite. He muttered low to Arthur about how they'd been having trouble with Mr. Roberts, having to modify his memory ten times a day.

Anna didn't pay close attention to the conversation around her after the wizard Disapparated. Excitement was bubbling up inside her as they passed through the gate into the campsite.

They trudged up the still-misty field, passing rows and rows of tents. Most of them looked like ordinary tents, the owners clearly making the effort to look Muggle. However, there was the occasional tent that was very obviously magical. Halfway up the first field was a fancy tent made of striped silk that looked fit for royalty. A little farther was a tent that was three stories tall.

Soon, they reached the very edge of the wood at the top of the field where there was an empty space with a sign hammered into the ground saying 'Weezly'.

"Excellent spot, Arthur." Sirius commented with a smile. "The field's just on the other side of these woods, right? Closest we could get I expect."

Arthur nodded, swinging his rucksack off his shoulders. "Right, no magic allowed, strictly speaking, not when we're out in these numbers on Muggle land. We'll have to put these tents up by hand!" he said, looking very excited. "Shouldn't be too difficult…Muggles do it all the time…Where do you reckon we should start?" he asked, looking between Harry, Sirius, and Remus.

Anna and the others didn't know much about how to set the tents up, but Hermione, Harry, and Remus seemed to guess it fairly closely. Arthur seemed to be more of a hindrance than a help, having far too much fun using the mallet. Finally, however, they were able to get a pair of shabby, two-man tents up.

As everyone stood back to admire the two very Muggle-looking tents, Anna couldn't help wondering how their whole party was going to fit in these two tents. Sure, the three girls wouldn't be too cramped in their own tent, but the guys? There would be ten guys when Charlie, Bill, and Percy arrived.

Arthur lowered to his hands and knees and crawled into one tent.

"We'll be a bit cramped," he called out to them, "but I think we'll all squeeze in. Come and have a look."

Anna and Hermione exchanged a glance before following Ginny into the other tent. When Anna ducked under the flap, her mouth fell open. It didn't look like the inside of a tiny tent like she expected. It looked like a small, one bedroom apartment with a tiny kitchen and Anna could barely see what looked like a bathroom through another flap. The couch was facing the kitchen appliances so closely that what was the living room was practically the same room as the kitchen.

"Unfortunately, there's only two beds in the bedroom." Ginny announced, returning from the bedroom where she'd dropped off her backpack. "We can ask one of the adults to conjure another one."

"No, that's fine. I can sleep on the couch." Anna shook her head, dropping her own bag on the end of the couch. There were a couple throw pillows on the ends and a comfy-looking quilt draped over the back.

Harry and Ron peaked in a few moments later announcing them and Hermione need to go get water to cook while everyone else gathers firewood. Hermione gave them a very short tour, considering there wasn't much to show that required moving around, and then headed out. Anna and Ginny followed them out and headed into the guys' tent.

It was much more spacious than the girls' tent and designed like an old-fashioned, four-room flat complete with a bathroom and kitchen. There were crocheted covers over the mismatched chairs and there was a strong smell of cats. Anna peaked into each of the two bedrooms and saw two sets of bunk beds in each one.

Everyone left the tent and Anna sat with Ginny while the guys all headed into the forest. They returned a little while later, each carrying a few chunks of wood. They made a small pile for the actual fire, and then a small pile to add when the fire diminished.

Remus offered to subtly light it with his wand, but Arthur seemed to be having far too much fun with the matches. He couldn't seem to get them to work. Several splintered matches littered the ground around him while the others watched from their seats on the grass around him. After a rather long time, Harry, Ron, and Hermione returned with the water.

"You've been ages." George commented.

"Met a few people." Ron answered, setting the water containers on the ground. "You not get that fire started yet?"

"Dad's having fun with the matches." Fred answered.

"Oops!" Arthur exclaimed, having just managed to light a match and instantly drop it in surprise.

"Here, Mr. Weasley." said Hermione gently, taking the box from him and showing him how to do it properly.

Finally, they got the fire lit, but it took at least another hour for the water to be hot enough to cook anything. At least there was plenty to watch while they waited. There were people of all races, ages, and countries that walked past their tents. Lots of tents were decked out in decorations for either team, green for Ireland and red for Bulgaria. Anna found that much more entertaining to look at than listening to Arthur give a commentary of all the Ministry wizards rushing back and forth.

Finally, the fire was ready and they'd just started cooking eggs and sausages as Charlie, Bill, and Percy arrived. By now, Anna's stomach was ready to eat itself considering she hadn't eaten since before five in the morning.

"Just Apparated, Dad." Percy greeted them loudly. "Ah, excellent, lunch!"

"Why don't you yell that a little louder, Perce?" Fred asked.

"Yeah, I don't think any nearby Muggles heard you." George added.

Anna fought her smile as Charlie took a seat in the empty spot next to her, chuckling at his brothers' wit.

"So, how early did you have to get up?" Charlie asked Anna teasingly.

Anna glared at him. "Shut up. I hate you for getting to sleep in." she grumbled, making Charlie laugh.

"We heard all about the toffee incident from mum when we woke up." Bill told them from his spot on Charlie's other side. "I was almost shocked you were trying to smuggle the sweets, too." he added to Anna, who blushed again.

"I wasn't." Charlie argued. "I know you've been helping them make those things all summer." he added with a smirk at Anna, who jabbed him with her elbow. She didn't need all the adults knowing that.

"Well, Mother was quite right in tossing that rubbish." Percy spoke up from where he'd sat between Remus and Arthur. "Now you can focus on your studies and maybe get good Ministry jobs after school."

"Shut up Perce." Fred, George, and surprisingly Bill chorused together, making the other kids laugh.

Finally, the food was done cooking and everyone was served a plate to eat. They ate with friendly conversation until Arthur jumped to his feet about halfway through their meal, waving and grinning at a man who was striding toward them.

"Aha! The man of the moment! Ludo!"

Recognizing the name, Anna turned to look. Ludo Bagman, formerly a Beater for the Wimbourne Wasps, was wearing his old, long Quidditch robes with thick, horizontal yellow and black stripes with a picture of a wasp on his chest. It was clear he used to be powerfully built, but now his robes were stretched tightly across his large belly. His nose was squashed, probably broken by a Bludger, an occupational hazard as a Quidditch player. But his round blue eyes and short, blonde hair made him look like an overgrown child. And he walked with a bounce in his step, clearly very excited.

"Ahoy there!" Bagman called cheerfully as he approached their fire. "Arthur, old man, what a day, eh? What a day! Could we have asked for more perfect weather? A cloudless night coming…and hardly a hiccough in the arrangements…Not much for me to do!"

Percy rushed forward with his hand outstretched.

"Ah-yes," Arthur grinned, "this is my son, Percy. He's just started at the Ministry. This is Remus and Sirius, a couple family friends. And that's Fred-no, George, sorry- _that's_ Fred- Sirius's daughter Annabelle, Charlie, Bill, Ron-my daughter Ginny-and Ron's friends, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter."

Anna wasn't surprised to see Bagman do a small double take when Harry's name was mentioned, his eyes flicking upward to the scar on Harry's forehead.

"Everyone," Arthur continued, "this is Ludo Bagman, you know who he is, it's thanks to him we've got such good tickets-"

Bagman beamed and waved his hand as if it had been nothing.

"Fancy a flutter on the match, Arthur?" he asked eagerly, jingling the pockets of his robes, which sounded full of gold. "I've already got Roddy Pontner betting me Bulgaria will score first-I offered him nice odds, considering Ireland's front three are the strongest I've seen in years-and little Agatha Timms has put up half shares in her eel farm on a week-long match."

"Oh…go on then." said Arthur. "Let's see…a Galleon on Ireland to win?"

"A Galleon?" Bagman looked slightly disappointed, but recovered quickly. "Very well, very well…any other takers?"

Sirius put up a finger. "I'll bet five Galleons Ireland scores first."

Anna was distracted when she realized Fred and George had bent their heads together and were whispering furiously together.

"Excellent." Bagman agreed before he cast his eyes on the others. "Any other last minute takers?"

"They're a bit young to be gambling." Arthur told him. "Molly wouldn't like-"

"We'll bet thirty-seven Galleons, fifteen Sickles, three Knuts," Fred suddenly spoke as he and George pooled their money together, "that Ireland wins-but Viktor Krum gets the Snitch. Oh, and we'll throw in a fake wand."

Anna's mouth fell open while Percy hissed at them, "You don't want to go showing Mr. Bagman rubbish like that-"

But Bagman didn't seem to think the trick wand was rubbish in the slightest. His face lit with child-like excitement as he took the wand from Fred and gave it a wave, which turned it into a rubber chicken. He roared with laughter.

"Excellent! I haven't seen one that convincing in years! I'd pay five Galleons for that!"

Percy's expression froze in a shocked, disapproving look. Anna, however, was shocked for another reason. Betting a couple Galleons was one thing, but that was all the twins' money. All their lifesavings. If they lost this bet they wouldn't have anything!

"Boys," Arthur muttered under his breath, "I don't want you betting…That's all your savings…Your mother-"

"Don't be a spoilsport, Arthur!" Bagman laughed, rattling his pockets. "They're old enough to know what they want! You reckon Ireland will win but Krum'll get the Snitch? Not a chance, boys, not a chance…I'll give you excellent odds on that one…We'll add five Galleons for the funny wand, then, shall we…"

Arthur and Anna watched helplessly as Bagman whipped out a notebook and quill to jot down the twins' names.

"Cheers." George grinned, taking the slip of parchment Bagman handed him and tucking it away in the front pocket of his robes.

Bagman turned back to Arthur. "Couldn't do me a brew, I suppose? I'm keeping an eye out for Barty Crouch. My Bulgarian opposite number's making difficulties, and I can't understand a word he's saying. Barty'll be able to sort it out. He speaks about a hundred and fifty languages."

"Mr. Crouch?" said Percy, abandoning his look of disapproval and practically wiggling with excitement like a little puppy. "He speaks over two hundred! Mermish and Gobbledegook and Troll…"

"Anyone can speak Troll." said Fred dismissively. "All you have to do is point and grunt."

Percy threw Fred a very nasty look before stoking the fire vigorously to bring the kettle back to a boil.

"Any news on Bertha Jorkins yet, Ludo?" Arthur asked as Bagman settled himself down on the grass beside them all.

"Not a dicky bird." Bagman answered comfortably. "But she'll turn up. Poor old Bertha…memory like a leaky cauldron and no sense of direction. Lost, you take my word for it. She'll wander back into the office sometime in October, thinking it's still July."

Anna glanced over and saw Remus and her dad exchange a look, though she couldn't read what their expression meant.

"You don't think it might be time to send someone to look for her?" Arthur asked tentatively as Percy handed Bagman a cup of tea.

"Barty Crouch keeps saying that," said Bagman, his child-like blue eyes widening innocently, "but we really can't spare anyone at the moment. Oh-" a wizard had just Apparated by their fireside, making Anna jump. "talk of the devil! Barty!"

Barty Crouch was the exact opposite of Ludo Bagman. He was a stiff-looking, elderly man dressed in an impeccably, crisp suit and tie. His short, gray hair had an almost-unnaturally straight parting and his toothbrush mustache was perfectly trimmed. Anna understood perfectly why Percy idolized this man, he looked like what Percy would look like in sixty-some years.

But Anna was more focused on her dad and Remus. When Crouch appeared, she noticed her dad stiffen up. Remus had rested his hand on his shoulder, whispering in his friend's ear. Sirius had a rather ugly look on his face as he stared at Crouch.

"Pull up a bit of grass, Barty." Bagman suggested brightly, patting the ground beside him.

"No thank you, Ludo." said Crouch with a bite of impatience in his voice. "I've been looking for you everywhere. The Bulgarians are insisting we add another twelve seats to the Top Box."

"Oh, is _that_ what they're after? I thought the chap was asking to borrow a pair of tweezers. Bit of a strong accent." said Bagman.

"Mr. Crouch!" Percy suddenly found his voice, though it came out breathlessly, and he sunk into a kind of half-bow that made him look like a hunchback. "Would you like a cup of tea?"

"Oh." said Crouch, looking Percy over in mild surprise. "Yes-thank you, Weatherby."

Anna snorted behind her hand and Fred and George choked into their own cups. Percy went very pink as he busied himself with the kettle.

"Oh and I've been wanting a word with you too, Arthur." said Crouch, his sharp eyes falling upon Arthur again. "Ali Bashir's on the warpath. He wants a word with you about your embargo on flying carpets."

Arthur heaved a deep sigh.

"I sent him an owl about that just last week. If I've told him once I've told him a hundred times: Carpets are defined as a Muggle Artifact by the Registry of Proscribed Charmable Objects, but will he listen?"

"I doubt it." Crouch answered, accepting the cup of tea Percy offered him. "He's desperate to export here."

"Well, they'll never replace brooms in Britain, will they?" Bagman commented.

"Ali thinks there's a niche in the market for a family vehicle." said Crouch. "I remember my grandfather had an Axminster that could seat twelve-but that was before carpets were banned of course." he added quickly.

Crouch went to take a sip of his tea, when his eyes traveled a few people over from Arthur, landing on Sirius. He froze momentarily, and Anna watched them stare each other down. Crouch narrowed his eyes slightly and looked ready to say something that Anna somehow doubted would be pleasant.

"So, keeping busy, Barty?" Bagman asked breezily, unintentionally interrupting what could've been an ugly moment.

"Fairly." Crouch answered dryly. "Organizing Portkeys across five continents is no mean feat, Ludo."

"I expect you'll both be glad when this is over?" Arthur guessed.

Bagman looked genuinely shocked. "Glad? Don't know when I've had more fun…Still, it's not as though we haven't got anything to look forward to, eh, Barty? Eh? Plenty left to organize, eh?"

Crouch raised his eyebrows at Bagman.

"We agreed not to make the announcement until all the details-"

"Oh details!" Bagman waved his hand as if waving the word itself away. "They've signed, haven't they? They've agreed, haven't they? I bet you anything these kids'll know soon enough anyway. I mean, it's happening at Hogwarts-"

Nearly all the kids perked up at this, but Crouch cut Bagman off quickly.

"Ludo, we need to meet the Bulgarians, you know. Thank you for the tea, Weatherby."

He handed his untouched tea back to Percy, which Anna thought was a waste, and waited for Bagman to rise. Bagman gulped the remains of his own tea before struggling to his feet.

"See you all later!" he said to them. "You'll be up in the Top Box with me-I'm commentating!" He waved, Crouch nodded curtly, and they both vanished.

"What's happening at Hogwarts, Dad?" Fred asked instantly before anyone else got a chance. "What were they talking about?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Arthur answered with a knowing smile.

"It's classified information, until such time as the Minsitry decides to release it." Percy said stiffly. "Mr. Crouch was quite right not to disclose it."

"Oh shut up, Weatherby." said Fred.

Excitement filled the air the later it got. As the sun began sinking, Salesmen began Apparating every few feet carrying trays and pushcarts overflowing with merchandise. Anna hopped up and began looking around, the twins following her.

They saw all kinds of little trinkets. Luminous rosettes in green or red that squealed players' names. Pointed green hats covered in dancing shamrocks. Bulgarian scarves with lions that actually roared. Flags that played teams' national anthems as they waved. Tiny model Firebolts that flew. Collectable figures of famous players. Omnioculars that helped you see up close what was happening on the field.

Anna bought herself a green, shamrock hat before looking at the twins over her shoulder. They were looking around at everything, but since they'd bet all their money, they couldn't buy anything.

"So, what made you two think it was a good idea to bet all your savings?" she asked them lightly.

They shrugged. "Why not? If we win we double our money." Fred pointed out.

"And if you lose, you lose everything." Anna countered.

"Then we won't lose." George smirked.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Whatever you say. Anyways, pick something."

"What?" they both asked, staring at her.

"Pick something." she repeated, waving her hand toward all the different carts. "I'm buying you each one souvenir. Pick something."

"You don't have to buy us anything." Fred told her firmly, George shaking his head behind him.

"You can't come to the Quidditch World Cup and not get something. Just pick something. I've got enough Galleons for us each to get something. Now pick or I'll get something for you myself." Anna threatened.

"Alright deal," started George.

"But in return, you don't get us Christmas presents." Fred ended before they hurried about to pick something. Fred picked a hat much like Anna's and George picked a green rosette.

They reunited with the rest of their families, all possessing their own trinkets. It wasn't long after they regrouped by their tent when a deep, booming gong sounded on the other side of the woods. Green and red lanterns blazed to life in the trees, creating a path to the field.

"It's time. Come on, let's go!" Arthur told them excitedly.

With their purchases in hand, Arthur lead their group into the woods following the lantern-lit trail. Anna almost felt claustrophobic having thousands of people around them; talking and laughing jovially and even singing. The excitement bubbling up around them was incredibly contagious and Anna realized she was walking with more of a bounce in her step.

"I still can't believe you two made that crazy bet." Charlie commented, walking on one side of Anna with Fred and George on her opposite side. "I mean, Ireland winning makes sense, but that _and_ Krum catching the Snitch? That's near impossible."

"Well,…I don't know about impossible." Anna argued, which made Charlie look at her in disbelief. "Look, just hear me out. I think betting all your money was completely stupid." she said to the twins before turning back to Charlie. "However, the bet isn't completely impossible. Unlikely, yeah, and I wouldn't bet money on it myself, but it's not so hard to believe. Ireland's got the best Chasers in the league right now so it's most likely they're going to win. But Krum's a way better Seeker than Lynch. It's more likely Krum'll get the Snitch than Lynch."

"But Ireland would have to be at least 160 points up for that to happen, which is unlikely." Charlie pointed out.

Anna shrugged. "Yeah. Like I said, unlikely but not impossible."

They walked for a good twenty minutes, everyone around them laughing and goofing off.

Finally, they emerged from the woods into the shadow of a giant stadium with gold walls. It looked large enough to fit Hogwarts several times. Remus had told Anna in a discussion earlier in the summer that it was designed to seat a hundred thousand, and a Ministry task force of 500 had to work all year to build it, adding on Muggle Repelling charms to every inch.

They approached the nearest entrance in a swarm of people, and Arthur gave the Ministry witch their tickets.

"Prime seats!" she commented, looking them over. "Top Box! Straight upstairs, Arthur, and as high as you can go."

Arthur lead the way and the others filed up the purple-carpeted stairs behind him. They followed the rest of the crowd, which slowly began to thin as people turned off into doors left and right. Their little party, however, kept climbing until they reached the very top and entered a small box at the highest point of the stadium halfway between the goal posts. There were about two dozen purple and gilt chairs separated into two rows.

Anna followed the others in taking up the first row, sitting between Fred and her father near one end. Anna sat down and looked out the front of the box over the stadium. A hundred thousand witches and wizards were taking their seats below. Each row rose in levels around the oval-shaped field. At either end were three goal hoops about fifty feet in the air, like any other Quidditch pitch. Right across from the Top Box was a giant blackboard with gold writing that kept dashing across and then wiping off again as if some invisible person were writing it. It kept showing advertisements and announcements.

She was vaguely aware of Harry having a conversation with a house elf that had been sitting there when they arrived. From the snippets she picked up he thought it was Dobby, and then they started talking about other things, like the poor elf being scared of heights, but she had to save a seat for her Master, Mr. Crouch.

Hearing Crouch's name reminded Anna of her father's reaction to said wizard arriving at their fire earlier, and she was tempted to ask him right then. However, Ministry wizards kept coming into the Box. Arthur shook hands with nearly all of them, often introducing them to his family and friends. Percy jumped to his feet so often he looked like a Jack-in-the-box, which the twins got a kick out of.

When the Minister himself entered, Percy leapt to his feet and bowed so low his glasses slid off his nose and shattered. Anna covered her mouth as the twins laughed hysterically. Embarrassed, Percy repaired them with his wand and returned to his seat, glaring at Harry with a look of envy when the Minister greeted him like an old friend. It was a nice distraction compared to how awkward the Minister was when he saw Sirius and Remus with them.

It was also entertaining watching Fudge talk to the Bulgarian Minister with hand signals, since they couldn't speak the same language.

Ignoring them, Anna turned to the twins and they began whispering about their favorite members of the Ireland team when the Minister spoke for the whole room to hear.

"…ah, and here's Lucius!"

Anna's head snapped around so fast her neck cracked. Fred instantly reached over and gripped her hand tightly in his.

Sure enough, Lucius Malfoy was edging along the second row to the empty seats behind Arthur with Draco and a woman following behind him. They all looked so alike it was eerie. The woman had the same blonde hair as her husband and son. She might be nice looking if her nose wasn't scrunched up as if she smelled sour milk. However, Anna was still surprised. She guessed this was Narcissa Malfoy, her dad's cousin, but she didn't have the trademark 'Black' feature of dark hair, but she did look very arrogant. Anna glanced at her father and saw that he, too, had stiffened at the sight of his cousin.

"Ah, Fudge." Lucius held out his hand when he reached the Minister. "How are you? I don't think you've met my wife, Narcissa? Or our son, Draco?"

"How do you do, how do you do?" Fudge smiled at them both and bowed to Narcissa. "And allow me to introduce you to Mr. Oblansk-Oblansk-Mr.-well, he's the Bulgarian Minister of Magic, and he can't understand a word I'm saying anyway, so never mind. And let's see who else-you know Arthur Weasley, I daresay?"

It grew very tense as Arthur and Lucius looked at each other. Lucius made a point of looking up and down the row, while Narcissa looked down her nose at Sirius.

"Good lord, Arthur." Lucius said softly. "What did you have to sell to get seats in the Top Box? Surely your house wouldn't have fetched this much?"

Anna's hand formed a fist, and she felt Fred's hand tighten around hers. It was also clear Fudge wasn't listening.

"Lucius has just given a _very_ generous contribution to St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, Arthur. He's here as my guest."

"How-how nice." Arthur managed with a very strained smile.

Lucius curled his lips at Anna, and then Hermione further down the row. He then nodded sneeringly at Arthur before sitting down.

Narcissa met Sirius's eyes as she passed his seat. Sirius glared coolly up at her while she turned her nose up at him. She continued down the row and sat down, Draco taking the seat between his parents.

"Awkward." George leaned forward and hissed under his breath at Fred and Anna.

Thankfully, Bagman entered the box soon after and the match started. The team mascots did brief performances. For Bulgaria about one hundred Veela did a dance that made most of the males in the audience drool. Anna had to smack both the twins on the back of the head. Harry even tried to climb out of the box. Hermione had to pull him back into his seat.

The Irish mascots were leprechauns. There were fireworks and flying balls of light that joined and formed a shamrock in the sky. Heavy gold coins rained down on the crowd, which lead to lots of people fighting and rummaging under their seats to get the gold. Anna and the twins were among them, scraping dozens of gold coins off the ground around their feet and pooling them together in Fred's pockets to count later.

The Bulgarian team flew out first, which lead to Ron freaking out when Viktor Krum flew out last. Anna got a good look at him through her dad's Omnioculars and was mildly surprised. Krum was thin and sallow-skinned with a large, curved nose and thick, black eyebrows. It was very hard to believe he was only 18 years old.

Soon after Krum was on the field, the Irish team flew out and before long, the referee had kicked the crate open and the balls flew into the air.

"Theeeeeeeey're OFF!" Bagman screamed, his voice magically magnified. "And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!"

Anna's eyes flew back and forth after the Quaffle so fast her head started to ache. The players flew so fast they were little green and red blurs, and they were passing the Quaffle so fast Bagman barely had time to say the player's name before it was passed again. They certainly put the Hogwarts teams to shame. Being a Chaser herself, Anna paid very close attention to the Irish Chasers. They flew seamlessly as if they could read each other's minds.

Irish Chaser Troy got the Quaffle and flew upward, drawing Bulgarian Chaser Ivanova away and performing the Porskoff Ploy by dropping the Quaffle down to Moran. The Bulgarian Beater Volkov swung hard at a passing Bludger, knocking it into Moran's path so she had to duck to avoid it. Unfortunately, she dropped the Quaffle and Lavsky of Bulgaria caught it. Luckily, Mullet stole it back and passed it to Troy, who scored.

"Troy scores!" Bagman shouted as the stadium applauded. "Ten zero to Ireland!"

Anna jumped to her feet with the twins, fists pumping in the air. She even noticed Hermione dancing down the row.

Within ten minutes, Ireland scored two more times, bringing the score to thirty to zero. The match quickly grew brutal as Bulgaria fought to catch up. The Beaters Volkov and Vulchanov whacked Bludgers at the Irish Chasers frequently, keeping them from scoring and forcing them to scatter a couple times. Finally, Ivanova managed to break through the Irish, dodge Keeper Ryan, and score Bulgaria's first goal.

"Fingers in your ears!" Arthur bellowed as the Veela started dancing in celebration. Anna scrunched up her nose at the Veela. She wasn't sure why, but she really didn't like them.

Bulgaria was back in possession, but everyone was suddenly distracted as both Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the Chasers like bullets.

Anna stood up to watch, her mouth open as she expected them both to crash. But at the last second, Krum pulled out of his dive and spiraled off. Lynch, on the other hand, hit the ground with a dull thud that was heard throughout the stadium. Anna winced at the impact and sat back down, her body aching at the mere thought of Lynch's impact. The Irish fans groaned, several pointing out Krum was obviously Feinting. A time out was called as mediwitches hurried onto the field for Lynch.

"He'll be okay, he only got ploughed!" Charlie reassure Ginny, who was hanging over the side of the box looking horrorstruck. "Which is what Krum was after, of course…"

Mediwitches poured cups of potions down Lynch's throat until he eventually got to his feet to loud cheers from his supporters. After another fifteen minutes, Ireland pulled ahead by ten more goals, leading 130 to 10. The game got even dirtier yet. It was worse than Gryffindor's matches against Slytherin.

Ireland was back in possession and Mullet, Anna's favorite player, shot toward the goal post with the Quaffle tight under her arm. Surprisingly, Bulgarian Keeper Zograf flew out to meet her. It happened so fast it was hard to see exactly what happened, but Irish supporters screamed in outrage and Anna leapt to her feet as the referee blew his whistle, giving a penalty for Cobbing, an excessive use of elbows.

Ireland ended up receiving two penalties after the Bulgarians argued with the referee, and the match became more ferocious still. There was another penalty when Dimitrov flew into Moran, nearly knocking her off her broom. The leprechauns formed a hand with a very rude sign directed at the Veelas, which made Anna point and laugh to get the twins' attention. The Veelas lost control and launched themselves across the field to throw handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. Anna and the twins grimaced in disgust as the Veelas' faces elongated into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads and long, scaly wings sprouted from their shoulders.

"And that, boys, is why you should never go for looks alone!" Arthur called down the row, making Anna laughed.

"Yeah, clearly no girl would be going for looks if she dated one of you two." she teased the twins, who glared playfully at her.

"Please, the ladies love us." they chorused in response, and Fred tossed his arm over Anna's shoulder.

"You wish you had a chance with one of us." he teased.

Anna shoved his arm off her, grateful he'd turned back to watch the match as her cheeks went bright red. _'Why am I blushing?'_

Shaking her head, Anna turned back to watch the match to see Moran score another goal, the players ignoring the Ministry wizards trying to break up the fight between the mascots.

The Irish Beater Quigley hit a Bludger as hard as he could at Krum, who didn't duck quickly enough and was hit square in the face. Anna didn't need Omnioculars to see the damage. Most of his face was covered in dark red blood, his nose was obviously broken. However, the referee was too distracted to blow his whistle, seeing as a Veela had set his broom tail on fire.

" _Look at Lynch_!" Harry suddenly yelled from down the row. Anna's eyes rapidly scanned the field until she noticed the Irish Seeker diving toward the ground. She stood up and watched eagerly. Krum was right on his tail, flecks of blood flying through the air behind him. He gradually drew level with Lynch as they hurtled for the ground. Krum pulled out of the dive while Lynch hit the ground for a second time, instantly being trampled by the angry Veela.

"The Snitch, where's the Snitch?" Charlie bellowed as he stood up to get a better look, as did most of the crowd.

"He's got it-Krum's got it-it's all over!" Harry shouted. Anna's mouth fell open as she saw Krum, red robes shining with blood, rise gently into the air with his fist held high. She looked across at the Scoreboard, which was flashing, BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170.

Anna slowly plopped back into her seat as the crowd slowly rumbled before erupting into screams of delight, finally realizing what had happened. The twins were on their feet cheering, Fred grabbing Anna's arm and shaking her as it hit her.

Krum caught the Snitch, but Ireland won. The twins' won their bet.

Anna laughed as she let George pull her to her feet, dancing around in a circle with the twins.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, taken aback. "KRUM GETS THE SNITCH-BUT IRELAND WINS-good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!"

Anna stopped dancing and looked up a few inches into Fred's face. His smug expression said everything. _They_ were expecting it.

Everyone was still cheering. The Bulgarian team looked disappointed and dejected, but the Irish players were dancing gleefully.

Bagman took the booming-voice spell off his throat. "They'll be talking about this one for years," he said hoarsely, "a really unexpected twist, that…shame it couldn't have lasted longer…Ah yes…yes, I owe you…how much?" he asked the twins, who had just scrambled over the backs of their seats and were standing in front of Bagman with broad grins and hands outstretched.

"Can't believe they were right." Charlie grinned, propping his elbow on Anna's shoulder.

"Told you it wasn't completely farfetched." Anna grinned back.

XXX

"Don't tell your mother you've been gambling." Arthur pleaded with the twins as they all slowly descended the stairs.

"Don't worry, Dad," Fred told him gleefully, "we've got big plans for this money. We don't want it confiscated."

Anna glanced over her shoulder and saw that Arthur looked tempted to ask, but decided against it. Anna figured that was smart of him, as she doubted he would approve. And he wouldn't want to face Molly Weasley if she found out he knew. Remus was shaking his head with a grin, and Anna saw her dad was smirking. They clearly had a bit of an idea what the twins would do with the money, and their inner Marauder wouldn't let them tattle on the twins.

They followed the enormous, noisy crowd back to their tents, surrounded by raucous singing. No one felt like going to bed just yet. Anna personally felt too hyper and giddy to fall asleep, partially from the match and partially from the twins winning their bet. She could hardly imagine how many products they could invent and make with that much money.

Since it was too noisy to sleep anyway, Arthur, Remus, and Sirius agreed to having one more cup of cocoa each before they turned in for the night.

Everyone argued enjoyably about the match, Charlie even pulled his father into an argument about Cobbing. It was only when Ginny fell asleep at the tiny table and spilled cocoa all over the floor that Arthur insisted everyone go to bed.

Anna helped Ginny to her feet and the girls headed into their own tent. They were too tired to speak and merely changed into their pajamas. Anna took the extra blanket and pillow Hermione handed her and set up a spot on the small couch.

She laid awake for a little bit, still able to hear singing and bangs from the other side of the campsite. However, even the noise and excitement couldn't keep Anna's tired eyes open for long and she slowly slipped into a warm, comfy sleep.


	17. Return of the Dark Mark

Anna rolled over onto her front and slowly blinked her eyes open. She looked around in mild confusion, lifting her head a little bit. She was in some kind of tent, with screaming and banging outside. Then, she remembered she was at the Quidditch World Cup, and let her head fall back to her pillow, her eyes falling closed.

Then she realized something. The bangs and screams sounded different now than when she fell asleep. Opening her eyes again, Anna pushed herself up onto her elbows, her eyes fixed on the small slit between the tent flaps. She could see flickering red-orange lights in the distance, the screaming didn't sound like celebratory cheers, but screams of terror, and people were running past the tent.

Anna pushed herself up and swung her legs over the side of the couch just as Remus rushed into the tent.

"Get up!" he shouted, hurrying into the bedroom. "Girls! Get up! We need to go! There's an attack!"

Anna snatched her coat up off the ground and pulled it over her nightgown. Remus returned with Hermione and Ginny stumbling behind him, still half asleep. Following behind Remus, the three girls hurried out of the tent. Ron and Harry were standing with Sirius and Arthur.

Outside, there were people running away from something. Looking where everyone was running away from, Anna saw something emitting odd flashes of light and bangs that sounded like gunfire. As whatever it was drew closer, Anna could make out loud jeering, roaring laughter, and drunken yells. A green light illuminated the scene and Anna's hand flew to her mouth.

There was a crowd of tightly packed, hooded wizards wearing masks moving toward them. Their wands were pointed straight in the air, and floating high above them were four struggling figures being contorted into grotesque shapes. Two of the figures were very small.

As the group came closer, more and more wizards joined the group, laughing and pointing up at the figures. Tents crumpled and fell, some were blasted out of the way or caught on fire. The screaming grew louder.

As the crowd passed a burning tent, the floating people were illuminated. It was the Muggle Mr. Roberts and who Anna guessed was his wife and two children. Mrs. Roberts was flipped upside down, causing her nightgown to fall and crowd to hoot with glee, but Anna was more focused on the children. One of the children was spinning like a top, it's head flopping around limply.

Bill, Charlie, and Percy emerged from the boys' tent fully dressed with their sleeves rolled up and wands in their hands. They quickly joined Arthur, Sirius, and Remus.

"We're going to help the Ministry!" Arthur shouted over the noise to all the kids. "You lot, get into the woods, and _stick together_. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

Bill, Charlie, and Percy were already sprinting away, but Sirius turned to Anna and cupped the side of her head with his free hand.

"Belle, I want you to look after Harry. Promise me. And be careful." he told her sternly.

"I will." Anna nodded quickly.

Sirius nodded once before he, Arthur, and Remus hurried after the others toward the commotion.

"C'mon." Fred grabbed Ginny's hand and nudged Anna's shoulder, leading the others toward the wood. They looked back when they reached the trees, people swarming past them. The crowd beneath the Roberts family was larger than ever. Ministry wizards were trying to get through the crowd, but were clearly scared to perform any spells that would make the family fall.

George pushed Anna and they continued into the forest. There were dark figures blundering through the trees all around them. Anna could hear children crying, anxious shouts, panicked voices all echoing in the cold night air. They were pushed along by the crowd, bustled about. Anna made sure to grab George's hand to ensure they didn't get separated. Anna glanced around, holding her free hand out to grab one of the younger kids' hands, but all she saw was a sea of unfamiliar faces.

"Wait-" she stopped walking and pulled George to a stop, letting the crowd swarm around her. "Where's-?" she looked around frantically, trying to see Harry, Ron, or Hermione.

"What is it? We need to keep going." Fred returned to them, still tightly holding Ginny's hand.

"I lost them. Harry and the others. Where did they go?" Anna told them anxiously, looking around the forest around them.

"I'm sure they're fine." George told her calmly, resting a hand on her shoulder. "They'll probably follow the crowd. We'll probably all end up in the same place. Let's go."

"But my dad told me-"

"Anna, they'll stick together. We'll end up with them at some point. Let's go." Fred reached over with his free hand and took one of Anna's, gently pulling her with him. They all followed the crowd again until they came to a clearing where dozens of people were also waiting, regrouping with their friends and loved ones. Fred lead them to a large boulder and Ginny sat on it while Anna stretched up on her tiptoes, trying to find Harry and the others over the heads of the crowd. But they were nowhere to be seen.

"They're not here." Anna said worriedly, still looking around. "Fred-George, they're not here. Where are they? I have to-"

"Hey." George grabbed her arm before she could walk off. "Sit." he ordered simply, gently pushing her to sit on the rock next to Ginny.

"Anna, we'll look for them when it's safe. We can't go wandering off right now when those guys are doing Merlin knows what to people." Fred told her, standing over the two girls.

"What were those guys, anyway?" Ginny asked quietly, her body trembling against Anna's with probably a mixture of cold and fear.

"Not a hundred percent sure," George started slowly, "but I could probably take a guess."

He exchanged a knowing look with Fred, who continued.

"Death Eaters."

Anna shivered, recognizing the name immediately.

"Death _Eaters_?" Ginny repeated nervously. "What are Death Eaters?"

"You-Know-Who's followers." Fred answered.

"People who supported him, pledged their allegiance to him, did his biding." George listed.

"But shouldn't they all be locked away? How could they be here?" Ginny asked in horrified disbelief.

"You'd be surprised how many of them got off." Anna mumbled, wrapping her arms around herself against the chill.

There was suddenly a flash of green light that made them jump. Seconds later, the woods around them erupted in horrified screams. Looking up at the dark sky through the breaks in the branches, Anna saw an enormous green skull with a snake hanging from it's mouth like a tongue.

Anna quickly stood up, her head tilted back so her eyes could stay fixed on the shape. She only had vague, fuzzy memories of that mark from her early childhood, but she instantly knew what it was.

The Dark Mark.

Anna's breathing picked up as her mind registered what seeing that Mark could mean. They'd already figured those wizards were Death Eaters, but for one of them to have the gall to shoot the Dark Mark into the sky…did that mean they killed someone? Was it someone she knew? Her father, Charlie, Remus, and the others had joined the other wizards in trying to save the Roberts family. And they were separated from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Was it one of them? It would make sense for a Death Eater to take a shot at Harry Potter, the boy who caused the downfall of their leader.

Anna was vaguely aware that George was trying to calm Ginny down. Then, a pair of hands landed on her shoulders and she lowered her gaze to meet a pair of familiar brown eyes.

"Anna, look at me." Fred ordered. "You need to take a deep breath. Calm down."

Anna stared up into Fred's eyes and forced herself to take a deep breath, slowing her heartbeat. When her breathing returned to normal, Fred gently pulled her into a hug, holding her close to his chest. Anna closed her eyes, listening to Fred's heart thumping against her ear.

"Everything'll be fine." he murmured into the hair at the top of her head. "I'm sure everyone's okay."

They waited for a little while longer before they heard someone approaching the clearing. Everyone turned to watch anxiously, a couple holding their wands up in case. But a plump Ministry wizard stepped out of the trees.

"The situation has ended. You are all free to return to your tents." he announced.

People murmured their relief as the crowd headed for the trail. Fred pulled away from Anna and took her hand, leading her back the way they'd come. George took Ginny's hand, and Anna reached back to take Ginny's other hand in hers so they created a chain.

The campsite was quiet, now, no signs of masked wizards anywhere.

They finally returned to their tents, which were still miraculously standing and not burned. Fred pushed the tent flaps open and lead them inside. Charlie, Bill, and Percy were already moving about the tent, all of them seemed to be mildly injured. Bill had a cut on his arm, Percy a bloody nose, and all Anna could see for Charlie was that his shirt was ripped.

Charlie looked up at them as he passed a bed sheet to Bill.

"Hey, you guys all okay?" he asked when they entered. Then, his eyes scanned them all and his frown grew. "Where're the others?"

"We got separated in the woods and we haven't seen them since." Fred answered, leading Anna to sit on the couch. In the proper light, Anna noticed Ginny, the twins, and probably herself were all pale and looked shaken.

"You guys see the Dark Mark?" George asked.

"Kinda hard not to." Bill told him, lifting his eyebrows before pressing the sheet more firmly to his arm.

"Where's dad?" Ginny asked quietly, looking anxiously at her injured brothers.

"Him, Sirius, and Remus went to look for whoever sent up the Dark Mark." Bill answered.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon." Charlie assured his sister.

Anna sighed, running both hands roughly through her hair. "I can't believe we lost the others. My dad told me to keep an eye on Harry. He's going to be so angry at me."

"Anna, the crowd was crazy. It wasn't your fault we got separated." Fred told her.

"But still-"

"But nothing." Charlie cut her off. "It was a panicked frenzy. I'm sure Harry, Ron, and Hermione will wander in soon."

As he said this, Charlie poked his head out of the tent flap, probably to keep an eye out for their families.

"Dad, what's going on?" Charlie suddenly called out into the dark. "Fred, George, Anna, and Ginny got back okay, but the others-"

"I've got them here." Arthur announced as Charlie stepped back and allowed his father to enter the tent. Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus, and Sirius followed. Anna jumped to her feet, relief filling her at the sight of them all mostly uninjured.

"Did you get them, Dad?" Bill asked sharply from his seat at the kitchen table. "The person who conjured the Mark?"

"No." Arthur answered. "We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark."

" _What?_ " Bill, Charlie, and Percy asked together.

"Harry's wand?" Fred repeated.

" _Mr. Crouch's elf?_ " asked Percy, sounding thunderstruck.

Harry, Ron and Hermione helped Arthur, Sirius, and Remus tell the story of what happened to them in the woods. Basically, they found Winky, Crouch's house elf, holding Harry's wand, which was proven to be the wand that produced the Dark Mark. Crouch also sacked his elf, even though it was clear she couldn't have produced the Mark. When they finished speaking, Percy swelled indignantly.

"Well, Mr. Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that! Running away when he'd expressly told her not to…embarrassing him in front of the whole Ministry…how would that have looked, if she'd been brought up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control-"

"She didn't do anything-she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" Hermione snapped at Percy. Anna's brows rose toward her hairline, and Percy looked very taken aback. Being very similar in character and studious tendencies, Hermione and Percy had always gotten along rather well.

"Hermione, a wizard in Mr. Crouch's position can't afford a house-elf who's going to run amok with a wand!" Percy told her pompously once he'd gotten over his shock.

"She didn't run amok!" Hermione shouted. "She just picked it up off the ground!"

"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was?" Ron demanded impatiently. "It wasn't hurting anyone…Why's it such a big deal?"

"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron." Hermione answered before anyone else could. "I read about it in _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_."

"And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years." Arthur added quietly. "Of course people panicked…it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."

"I don't get it." Ron frowned. "I mean…it's still only a shape in the sky…"

"Voldemort and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed." Sirius explained darkly. "The terror it inspired…you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside…"

Arthur winced and added, "Everyone's worst fear…the very worst…"

There was a moment of silence, during which Anna exchanged a glance with Fred. Charlie, who was sitting on the floor and leaning back against Anna's legs, reached over his shoulder to grip her hand comfortingly.

The silence was broken when Bill removed the sheet to check his cut, saying, "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we'd got near enough to unmask any of them. We caught the Robertses before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now."

"Death Eaters?" Harry repeated. "What are Death Eaters?"

"It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves." Bill answered. "I think we saw what's left of them tonight-the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway."

"We can't prove it was them, Bill." said Arthur. "Though it probably was." he added hopelessly, which Remus and Sirius nodded to.

"Yeah, I bet it was!" Ron spoke up suddenly. "Dad, we met Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he as good as told us his dad was one of those nutters in masks! And we all know the Malfoys were right in with You-Know-Who!"

"But what were Voldemort's supporters-" Harry began. All the Weasleys and Hermione winced. Sirius, Remus, and Anna were the only ones who didn't. Anna had been raised by her mother to not fear the name, even though she obviously feared the wizard the name belonged to. "Sorry." Harry said quickly. "What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?"

"The point?" Sirius gave a hollow laugh. "Harry, that's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were done for fun. I suppose they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us all that lots of them are still at large. A nice little reunion for them." he ended in disgust.

"But if they _were_ the Death Eaters, why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark?" Ron asked. "They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?"

"Use your brains, Ron." said Bill. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked very hard to keep out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost power, and told all sorts of lies about him forcing them to kill and torture people. I bet they'd be even more frightened then the rest of us to see him come back. They denied they'd ever been involved with him when he lost his powers, and went back to their daily lives…I don't reckon he'd be over-pleased with them, do you?"

"So…whoever conjured the Dark Mark…" Hermione said slowly.

"Your guess is as good as ours, Hermione." Remus told her.

"But I'll say this," Arthur cut in, "it was only the Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it. I'd be very surprised if the person who did it hadn't been a Death Eater once, even if they're not now…Listen, it's very late, and if your mother hears what's happened she'll be worried sick. We'll get a few more hours sleep and then try and get an early Portkey out of here."

"Harry, I want to talk to you alone for a moment before you go to bed." Sirius told him, leading him off to one side.

Everyone murmured a tired agreement, slowly getting to their feet. Now that the panic-based adrenaline was out of her system, Anna was very much exhausted. She followed Hermione and Ginny over to their own tent, took off her coat, and laid down on the couch. She pulled her blanket up to her chin and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and waiting for sleep to come.

Then she heard running footsteps and her eyes snapped open. She turned her head and listened, but the person was gone. She waited for a moment, then laid her head back down. Unfortunately, now she was tense. Her no-longer tired brain was racing, jumping to conclusions that weren't realistic. Like a Death Eater was going to come running into her tent and kill her, then shoot the Dark Mark into the sky again.

With thoughts like that, Anna was never going to get to sleep.

Anna sighed heavily, her wide eyes staring up at the ceiling of the tent.

"I'll never sleep like this." she whispered to herself.

She laid there for several minutes before deciding there was really only one way she would get to sleep. Slipping quietly off the couch, Anna grabbed her pillow and blanket and tiptoed out of the girls' tent and over to the boys'. She peaked inside and saw Bill and Charlie asleep in the living room, Bill reclined in a chair and Charlie sprawled out on the couch. She slipped silently over toward the nearest bedroom and peaked inside.

She could see a head of messy, black hair in the nearest bottom bunk that she recognized as Harry's. On the farther bottom bunk she saw Fred's sleeping face turned to face her.

She entered the room and headed toward the bunk Fred was sleeping in, guessing George was in the top bunk. She looked at Fred for a moment before laying her pillow on the ground next to his bed. She laid down on the bumpy ground and pulled her blanket up to her chest. It was slightly uncomfortable, sleeping on the lumpy ground, and she was sure to have a horrible ache in the morning. However, when she closed her eyes and only heard the quiet breathing and occasional snort from the four boys, she found it too peaceful to care.

She'd nearly dozed off when she heard a rustling near her head.

"Anna?" someone breathed.

Peaking her eyes open, Anna barely shifted her head to look up at Fred, who was leaning on one elbow and looking down at her, rubbing his eye with his fist.

"What're you doing down there?" he mumbled sleepily.

"Trying to sleep." Anna answered as casually as she could.

Fred stared at her for a moment. "Why aren't you in the girls' tent?"

Anna shrugged, looking down herself and picking at her thumbnail atop the blanket. "Couldn't sleep." she mumbled quietly, hoping he didn't hear her.

There were several more moments of silence before there was more shifting in Fred's bed.

"Get up here."

Anna looked up at him and saw that he had scooted back, leaving room for her in the bed.

"What?"

"Get up here." he repeated, patting the mattress with his hand. "You'll hurt your back sleeping down there."

"Fred-" Anna tried to protest.

"We've shared a bed before. And after tonight, I think we could both use some comfort." Fred told her. "Now get your arse up here."

Anna sighed in defeat, got up, and climbed into the bed next to her best friend. Fred scooted farther back and laid down on his side so there'd be enough room. Anna laid down on her side facing him, pulling the blanket up to her shoulder.

"Thanks." she whispered, their faces about six inches apart on the pillow.

Fred grinned at her. "No problem. Goodnight."

"Night." Anna breathed back, closing her eyes and drifting off within minutes.

XXX

Anna sighed in her sleep, snuggling closer to the warmth surrounding her. She could hear muffled voices nearby, but was too sleepy to care. She was vaguely aware of one voice being closer than the others, but she still didn't care to listen to what was being said.

"…okay? You two really need to get up now because if Sirius finds the pair of you like this, I reckon he'll be put back in Azkaban for an _actual_ murder."

Something rumbled near Anna's ear and she scrunched up her nose. Blinking her heavy, burning eyes open, she looked around. She was cuddling something close to her chest, her arms wrapped around it. Looking ahead, she realized she was sharing a bed with Fred, and that she was cuddling his arm.

Starting, she slowly pulled her arms from around his as he opened his eyes and looked down at her. His ears turned red and she was sure her whole face was the same color.

"Um, sorry…" she mumbled, but she was drowned out by hysterical laughter. Fred looked past her and scowled while she turned to look over her shoulder.

George was doubled over and laughing, clearly at them. Ron and Harry, who were packing their bags, were fighting smiles and glancing up at them every few moments.

"Shut up, George." Fred told his twin calmly, sitting up in his bed. "And if you two don't want to accidentally eat an experimental product of ours, I'd suggest keeping your mouths shut about this, too."

Anna glanced over at Harry and Ron as she sat up, who nodded quickly and looked back at their things.

"Are we leaving soon?" she whispered.

George swallowed his chuckles and nodded. "Yep. Charlie went over to wake you girls and found you gone. You're lucky he guessed where you were and didn't raise a panic. If your dad found you in here…" he trailed off, still chuckling.

Anna rolled her eyes, knowing she was probably still blushing. Climbing out of the bed, she gathered her blanket and pillow before pausing. She obviously couldn't just walk out of the room. Everyone else was obviously awake.

Fred, clearly guessing her dilemma, suggested, "Why don't you slip under the tent here?" pointing down at where the tent wall loosely touched the ground.

Anna nodded, smiling appreciatively at him before doing as he suggested. It was a tight fit and she had to get flat on her belly to manage it, but she did it and hurried around the girls' tent and in through the front flap. The sky was still rather dark, the sun probably at least an hour away from rising.

"Where were you?" Hermione demanded, already fully dressed.

"Um,…nowhere. I needed the loo." she answered evasively.

"Sure you did." Ginny smirked deviously at her when she left the bedroom, looking pointedly at the pillow and blanket in Anna's arms.

"Shut it." Anna told her, quickly changing into her extra clothes and packing her things away.

It didn't take long for their things to be packed and their tents to be taken down. Then, the large group followed the crowd through the campsite toward where the Portkeys were kept. Despite the early hour, there was already a huge crowd huddled around Basil, the keeper of the Portkeys. Everyone clearly wanted to get away from here as quickly as possible. Their large group took an old rubber tire to Stoatshead Hill before the sun had even risen.

The walk back through Ottery St. Catchpole was quiet as they trudged up the damp lane in the dawn light. Anna stayed near the back with the girls, her mind on the embarrassing thought that she'd _cuddled_ Fred's arm and been caught doing so. She half expected George and Fred to both tease her about it, but they were both surprisingly mute a few paces ahead. George didn't even seem to be teasing her _or_ Fred about it.

Anna's stomach rumbled and distracted her from her embarrassment. Luckily, they were very close to reaching the Burrow.

As they rounded the corner and the Burrow came into view, a loud cry echoed down the lane. Anna jumped and tensed, expecting another attack, but then she heard, "Oh, thank goodness, thank goodness!"

Molly and Wren had both been waiting in the front yard and were now running toward them. Both of them were still in their nightdresses, Wren in her bathrobe. Their faces were pale and stained, and Molly was holding a rolled up copy of the _Daily Prophet_ in her fist. Anna guessed her mother had only just got to the Burrow, given the early hour.

"Arthur-I've been so worried- _so worried_ -" Molly cried as she flung her arms around Arthur's neck, the Prophet falling to the ground. Wren wasn't as vocal in her relief, but she threw her arms around Sirius's neck just as tightly.

Anna stepped up to stand next to Harry and look down at the now-unrolled newspaper. The headline read: _SCENES OF TERROR AT THE QUIDDITCH WORLD CUP_. And under the headline was a glittering, black and white photo of the Dark Mark hovering over the treetops.

Anna was wrenched from her staring when her mother was suddenly in front of her and pulling both her and Harry into a tight hug. It was mildly awkward, since she was sure her mother had never hugged Harry before, but it could've been much worse, she supposed, considering what Molly did as soon as Wren released the two.

"You're alive…Oh _boys_ …" Everyone was shocked when Molly seized Fred and George and pulled them into such a tight hug that their heads banged together.

" _Ouch_! Mum-you're strangling us-" Fred complained.

"I shouted at you before you left!" Molly exclaimed, beginning to sob. "It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough OWLs? Oh Fred…George…"

Anna looked down, biting her lips together to keep from smiling. It was both depressing and amusing, considering Molly was really worked up over the thought of losing her sons. But Fred and George's red, disgruntled faces were just too amusing.

"Come on, now, Molly, we're all perfectly okay." Arthur told her soothingly, pulling her off the twins and leading her toward the house. "Bill," he added quietly, "pick up that paper, I want to see what it says…"

They all followed, Fred and George rubbing their sore necks, and crammed into the tiny kitchen. Wren went to the stove to pour a cup of tea that was already hot, to which Arthur added a shot of Ogdens Old Firewhiskey and handed to Molly. The guys all pulled up a chair at the table or stood near the wall while Anna, Hermione, and Ginny offered to help Wren make breakfast. Molly was still a bit too worked up to cook.

Anna began pouring tea into mugs and handing them out before returning to refill and the kettle when it ran out. Ginny was helping Wren make scrambled eggs and toast while Hermione was getting out plates and silverware.

Bill handed his father the paper, and Arthur scanned the front page, Remus and Percy looking over his shoulder.

"I knew it." Arthur sighed heavily. " _Ministry blunders…culprits not apprehended…lax security…Dark wizards running unchecked…national disgrace…_ Who wrote this? Ah…of course…Rita Skeeter."

"That woman's got it in for the Ministry of Magic!" Percy said furiously. "Last week she was saying we're wasting our time quibbling about cauldron thickness, when we should be stamping out vampires! As it if wasn't _specifically_ stated in paragraph twelve of the Guidelines for the Treatment of Non-Wizard Part-Humans-"

"Do us a favor, Perce," Bill yawned, "and shut up."

Anna fought a smile. Even though she'd only recently met Bill, he reminded her a bit of the twins and Charlie.

"I'm mentioned." Arthur suddenly announced, eyes widening behind his glasses as he reached the bottom of the article. Remus and Sirius instantly leaned forward to read what he was talking about.

"Where?" Molly spluttered, choking on her mixture of tea and whiskey. "If I'd seen that, I'd have known you were alive!"

"Not by name. Listen to this: _'If the terrified wizards and witches who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the wood expected reassurance from the Ministry of Magic, they were sadly disappointed. A Ministry official emerged some time after the appearance of the Dark Mark alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refusing to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.'_ Oh really." he finished in exasperation, handing the paper to Percy. "Nobody was hurt. What was I supposed to say? _Rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods_ …well, there certainly will be rumors now she'd printed that." He heaved a deep sigh. "Molly, I'm going to have to go into the office; this is going to need smoothing over."

"I'll come with you, Father." Percy announced importantly. "Mr. Crouch will need all hands on deck. And I can give him my cauldron report in person."

Molly was visibly upset once more. "Arthur, you're supposed to be on holiday! This hasn't got anything to do with your office; surely they can handle this without you?"

"I've got to go, Molly. I've made things worse. I'll just change into my robes and I'll be off…"

"Arthur, Percy, at least take some toast before you go." Wren ordered from the stove, plating a small pile of toast and placing it on the table.

"Quite right, thank you Wren." Arthur smiled appreciatively. Arthur and Percy both changed and grabbed a couple slices of toast before leaving.

"The rest of breakfast will be done in about ten minutes. Then, I'll need to get to work, too, I suppose." Wren announced, glancing at the watch on her wrist.

After breakfast, Wren indeed went to work. Remus and Sirius decided to stay at the Burrow, having nothing else to do while most of the kids played some Quidditch outside.

XXX

They spent the day at the Burrow, but as evening rolled around, Remus left to pick up dinner and Sirius took Anna and Harry home. The next few days were spent moving Harry into his room. Wren was at work a lot, and Remus and Sirius tried to find jobs occasionally, but no one seemed to want to hire either of them.

The only times Anna really saw her mum was when Wren returned home every evening for dinner. She told them the Ministry was getting a lot of Howlers, most complaining about the security at the World Cup. It was especially bad for Wren's department, since she worked in the Department of Security.

On the last night of August, the day before they left for school, Anna and Harry were in their separate rooms packing their school trunks.

Anna was stuffing her school books into her trunk when there was a light knock on her doorway. Looking up, she saw her mum standing in her doorway, some cloth draped over one forearm.

"How's it going?" she asked, entering the room.

Anna shrugged, looking at her trunk, which was mostly packed. "Fine, I guess. Nearly done, actually."

"Well, I've got one more thing you need to pack." Wren told her with a smile. She lifted one of the items of clothing off her forearm and held it out to her daughter.

Anna eyed her mum for a moment, gently taking the item with the fingers of both hands. She held it up before her eyes to get a good look at it.

It was a black dress without sleeves and with a big skirt that looked like a ball gown.

"It was originally an actual corset dress, but I removed the corset, since they aren't very pleasant to wear. But it still looks like a corset." Wren told her, sitting on the edge of the bed next to her daughter.

Anna turned and looked at her mother, her face clearly expressing her curiosity and confusion.

"Your school list required dress robes. I bought these for Harry," she explained, holding up the other black and white clothes in her hands, "but I had this in my vault. It's actually from your father, well, it used to be a Black's dress robes. I took out the corset recently. Figured you'd want to be able to breathe when you do whatever it is at Hogwarts that requires dress robes." Wren explained with a smile.

Anna grinned thankfully. "Yeah, breathing is good." she joked, looking back down at the dress she'd laid out on her lap. "You didn't have to waste this pretty dress on me, though. Surely it'd look better on you."

"And what occasion would I get to attend that requires dress robes?" Wren asked incredulously.

"Dad could take you out on a lovely date night when Harry and me are out of your hair." Anna teased, which made her mother reach over and bonk her on the head.

"Cheeky little…You're just like your father." Wren told her, shaking her head.

"Why, thank you." Anna told her, throwing an arm out and mock bowing.

Wren laughed again, shaking her head. "Well, anyway, I need to get these to Harry before he finishes packing." she said, standing up. "When you're finished, you should get to sleep. Have a good night, darling." she said, leaning down and kissing the top of Anna's head.

"You, too, mum. Love you."

"Love you, too." Wren told her, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

Anna sighed, looking thoughtfully down at the dress on her lap. Finally, she gently folded it up and placed it carefully in her trunk before climbing into bed.

 **XXX**

 **Aw! Don't you just love Anna and Fred? And George's teasing is so fun!**

 **Review and let me know what you all thought, please! Reviews make my day!**


	18. Triwizard Tournament

Annabelle woke up the next morning in a slightly bitter mood. Heavy rain was pounding on her bedroom window right in front of her. The weather seemed to add to the end-of-holidays gloom that was hanging over her. Normally by the end of holidays Anna was ready to get back to Hogwarts, not for the classes and mountains of homework, but to see her friends again. However, since she spent a good portion of her summer with her friends and catching up with her dad and Remus, she was merely dreading the workload at school.

Wren made a nice, big breakfast for their last meal together for a while, made of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and toast. Unfortunately, Remus couldn't join them, since the full moon was upon them, so Wren sent the leftovers into the locked and charmed basement for Remus to eat when he felt up to it.

Then Anna and Harry got their school trunks and owl cages, and went with Sirius and Wren to Kings Cross Station. They had only just walked through the wall onto the platform when they saw the large, familiar mass of redheads nearby.

They approached the part of the Weasley family that came; which appeared to be everyone but Arthur and Percy.

Wren and Molly hugged in greeting while the kids all greeted each other. "Where's Arthur? Didn't he get today off?" Wren asked curiously, having gotten September 1st off every year since Anna's first year of Hogwarts.

"He did, but he was called early this morning. Some issue with Alastor Moody and his rubbish bins attacking someone or some nonsense. Arthur wanted to get there to smooth things over so he wouldn't get in too much trouble." Molly explained, giving Harry and Anna hugs.

"Moody? Mad-Eye Moody?" Sirius asked sharply.

"Same one." Bill answered. The kids all took their luggage quickly into the train to place them in compartments before returning to the platform to give their families proper goodbyes.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think." Charlie told them, grinning and hugging Ginny.

"Really? Why?" Anna asked excitedly as she stepped up to give Charlie a tight hug once Ginny had moved back.

"You'll see." Charlie winked at her when she stepped back. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it…it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."

"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year." Bill added with his hands in his pockets, looking wistfully at the train.

" _Why?_ " George asked impatiently.

"You're going to have an interesting year." Bill told them, his eyes twinkling. "I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it…"

"A bit of what?" Ron asked. Unfortunately, the whistle blew and Molly and Wren began ushering them toward the train doors.

"Thanks for letting us visit so much, Molly." Anna told her. Hermione and Harry quickly seconded this.

"Oh it was my pleasure, dears. I'd invite you all for Christmas, but…well, I expect you're all going to want to stay at Hogwarts, what with…one thing and another." Molly told them, exchanging a knowing look with Wren, who was smiling.

"Mum!" Ron exclaimed irritably. "What d'you all know that we don't?"

"You'll find out this evening, I expect." Wren told them with a smile.

"It's going to be very exciting-mind you, I'm very glad they changed the rules-" Molly added.

"What rules?" Harry, Ron, Fred, and George exclaimed.

"I'm sure Professor Dumbledore will tell you…Now, behave, won't you? _Won't_ you, Fred? And you, George?" Molly asked.

The pistons hissed loudly, ending their conversation as the train began to move.

"Tell us what's happening at Hogwarts!" Fred bellowed out the window as the adults sped away from them. "What rules are they changing?"

Molly, Wren, and Sirius merely smiled and waved. The train rounded the corner as the group Disapparated.

Anna sighed before saying goodbye to the younger kids and following Fred and George to the compartment they'd found earlier. It wasn't long before they were joined by their typical group: Angelina, Alicia, Katie, and Lee.

Their train ride was spent much the same as previous years as the rain pounded heavier than ever and they traveled father north. They played Exploding Snap and discussed their summers and the Quidditch World Cup. By midday the lanterns in the corridor were lit due to the gloomy clouds outside. They bought food off the lunch trolley and continued talking and laughing. Finally the train pulled into the Hogsmeade station.

Thunder rumbled overhead as the train doors opened. Anna covered Ariel's cage with her school robes in the compartment before following the others outside, racing with their heads bent and eyes squinted against the stinging downpour. The rain was falling so thickly it felt as if ice water was being continually dumped on them from buckets. She followed the dark ginger hair of the twins to the carriages, taking Fred's hand when he offered and letting him pull her up into the carriage.

Lee climbed in after her and slammed the door shut behind him as they all crammed inside, and the carriage lurched forward and began rolling toward the castle. Anna squished in between Fred and Katie, everyone shaking out their hair or wringing out their soaked robes onto the floor around their feet.

The carriage ride was bumpy and Anna could barely hear the splash of the wheels driving through puddles over the rain beating on the carriage roof. She was shivering against Fred and Katie, her hair soaked down her back. She was looking forward to the warm, comfy Great Hall with a bowl of soup, but they'd unfortunately have to run through the rain one more time before they reached that.

When their carriage pulled up to the front of the castle, Anna grabbed Ariel's cage and followed the others out into the rain. Lightning lit up the front stone steps of the castle as they ran up them and entered the torch-lit entrance hall.

"Well, that was fun." Anna mumbled sarcastically, setting Ariel's cage down and pulling her wand from her pocket.

"I can't feel my fingers and toes." Katie whined, cupping her hands together and blowing on them to try and warm up.

Anna grinned tiredly at her before giving her wand a complicated wave and aimed it at Katie. Hot air blew from the end of her wand onto Katie's soaked robes.

"Ooh!" Katie held her arms out and closed her eyes. Within moments her robes were dry again. "Thanks, Anna. You'll have to teach me that one."

"You'll probably learn it this year." Anna told her before doing the same wand movement and aiming the hot air at herself. Her robes were nearly dry when-

 _SPLASH_.

Anna's head lurched down when a water balloon broke over her head, drenching her in cold water all over again.

Hearing a familiar cackle, Anna looked up and glared at Peeves, who was floating near the ceiling and throwing water balloons at people.

"Peeves." she grumbled under her breath as the twins approached, chuckling.

"You're a little wet." George told her, to which Anna stuck her tongue out.

As they all approached the doors to the Great Hall, Anna noticed Peeves start to throw a balloon at them again, but then he seemed to look the twins over before turning and throwing it at some Ravenclaw students nearby.

"Why didn't he throw one at you guys?" she whined, pulling her hair over her shoulder to wring out the excess water.

The twins smirked. "Maybe he sees a kindred spirit in us." they teased together.

Anna rolled her eyes while Katie giggled at them.

The Great Hall was decorated as usual for the feast. Golden plates and goblets were set out on the tables, hundreds of candles floating over the tables, and as Anna expected, the Great Hall was nice and warm. Black and purple clouds were floating in the enchanted ceiling, thunder rumbling and flashes of lighting appearing at nearly the same time.

When they found a seat at the Gryffindor table, Anna performed the Hot Air Charm on herself again, as well as the twins so they could be warm and dry once again.

As everyone began talking, Anna let her eyes scan the staff table at the head of the Great Hall, noticing there was no one new.

"I don't see a new teacher." she noted out loud to the others.

"Maybe Snape's going to teach both Potions _and_ Defense Against the Dark Arts." George suggested, sounding thoroughly disgusted at the idea.

"Merlin, I hope not." Anna shook her head, "I'll barely handle trying to pass Potions this year, I don't need that stress in Defense Against the Dark Arts, too."

Instead of laughing, the others murmured in agreement. The twins seemed to strongly agree and Anna wondered why until she remembered they weren't taking Potions this year. So they wouldn't have Snape for a teacher ever again unless he actually _did_ become the teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts, one of the few classes they were still taking.

They moved on to discuss Quidditch and Anna saw Nearly Headless Nick sitting with Harry and the others down the table. After a few minutes, Professor McGonagall entered the Great Hall, leading the first years, who were all so completely drenched they looked like they swam across the lake.

"I'm glad it wasn't raining like this when we had to ride the boats across the lake." Alicia commented.

Anna's eyes scanned the tiny first years until they landed on the smallest of them, a boy with mousy brown who was wrapped in Hagrid's moleskin coat. As she watched him, he looked toward the Gryffindor table and seemed to speak to a student sitting there. Anna managed to read his lips without difficulty: 'I fell in the lake!'

Anna smothered her grin, turning her attention to where McGonagall had sat the Sorting Hat on the usual stool. It sang it's new song and the Sorting began.

When the name Dennis Creevey was called, the small boy in Hagrid's coat hurried forward. He got sorted into Gryffindor and Anna watched him hurry to the table to the spot he'd been talking to earlier, calling shrilly, "Colin, I fell in!" as he threw himself into an empty seat. "It was brilliant! And something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back in the boat!"

"Cool!" another voice answered. Anna leaned forward slightly to see around the several people between her and the others. She recognized Colin as being the boy who was always taking pictures a couple years ago. It was clear the two were brothers. "It was probably the giant squid, Dennis!"

" _Wow_!"

Anna met Katie's eyes and could see she was just as amused by the two boys and Anna was.

Finally, the Sorting came to an end and Dumbledore stood up with his arms wide in welcome.

"I have only two words to say to you. _Tuck in_."

The dishes filled magically right before their eyes and Anna quickly began dishing her meal, since her stomach was ready to eat itself. The room was mostly silent as everyone ate, too occupied in filling their stomachs to have much conversation.

Dumbledore didn't speak again until they'd finished their meal and dessert, everything vanishing again.

"So!" Dumbledore stood and smiled around at them. "Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices.

"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it." The corners of his mouth twitched while Fred and George smirked at each other. "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.

"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year." Anna's mouth fell open in a mixture of shock and horror as she looked around at the other players she could see. Down the table, Harry looked shocked, Angelina and Katie were exchanging a look of horrified disbelief, and Fred and George were mouthing soundlessly up at Dumbledore, apparently too appalled to speak.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy," Dumbledore continued over the frantic whispers spreading across the Hall, "but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-"

A deafening rumble of thunder cut him off and the doors of the Great Hall swung open with a bang. Anna jumped and spun around with nearly everyone else. A man was standing in the doorway, leaning on a long staff and wearing a traveling cloak.

A flash of lightning sparked across the ceiling and lit the man up. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, and walked toward the teachers' table. In the absolute silence that met this stranger's entrance, Anna noticed that his every other footstep echoed with a dull clunk. Her eyes traveled down to his feet and saw, when his cloak shifted with his step, a wooden leg with a clawed foot. Anna distractedly poked at Fred's arm and pointed at the man's feet so he could see, too. His muttered, "Whoa." told her he saw it, too.

He reached the staff table and turned right to approach Dumbledore. A flash of lightning crossed the ceiling once again and lit the man's face. Every inch of it appeared scarred, his mouth looked more like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of his nose was missing. His eyes made him look lopsided, as one eye was small, dark, and beady while the other eye was large, round, and an electric blue color that moved ceaselessly and without blinking. It was completely independent from his normal eye, moving up, down, and side to side in a very creepy way that reminded Anna of a chameleon.

Alicia, sitting across from Anna, physically jumped when the man's eye rolled right over, pointing into the back of his head so all they could see was the white of his eye.

He shook hands with Dumbledore, which appeared as scarred as his face. They spoke quietly for a moment, Dumbledore probably asking him questions, before he nodded and gestured to the seat at his right-hand side. The stranger sat down, shaking his hair out of his face. Then he pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to his nose, sniffed it, then took a small knife from his pocket, speared the sausage, and began to eat. While his normal eye was fixed on the sausages, his blue eye was darting about as if examining the Great Hall and the students.

"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Dumbledore announced brightly into the silence that had fallen, "Professor Moody."

Typically, any new teacher was greeted with a round of polite applause. But this time no one clapped except for Dumbledore and Hagrid, which echoed on the walls until they quickly stopped. Everyone else stared at the new Professor until something occurred to Anna.

Reaching forward, Anna tugged on Fred's sleeve and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. "Is that the same Moody your dad had to help this morning?"

Fred's head lifted just slightly. "Blimey, it is."

"Mad-Eye Moody." George whispered, looking back at them with wide eyes.

Moody ignored the jug of pumpkin juice sitting next to him and reached into his cloak for a hip flask, which he took a long draw from.

Dumbledore cleared throat. "As I was saying," he continued, smiling out at the students, "we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" Fred exclaimed loudly. The tension from Moody's arrival was broken as nearly everyone in the Hall laughed. Anna put her head in her hand, shaking her head even as she also laughed.

Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively. "I am _not_ joking, Mr. Weasley, though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…" McGonagall cleared her throat loudly, and Anna covered her mouth to keep from laughing even harder. "Er-but maybe this is not the time…no…where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament…well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who _do_ know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely."

Normally, Anna would've done just that and spaced out, but instead she leaned forward with her elbows on the table to properly see the Headmaster from around the other students.

"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities-until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

Dozens of students were whispering excitedly, hardly anyone seeming to hear or care about the term "death toll". Anna, on the other hand, shifted nervously at the eager expressions on the twins' faces.

"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament, none of which has been very successful. However, our own Departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.

"The Heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their shortlisted contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

"I'm going for it!" Fred suddenly hissed, his face lit with what Anna knew to be enthusiasm at thought of glory and, more importantly, riches. And he was not alone. George and dozens of students at every table were on the edge of their seats and listening with rapt attention, falling silent when Dumbledore began to speak again.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts, the Heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age-that is to say, seventeen years or older-will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This-" Dumbledore had to raise his voice slightly because many students voiced their outrage. The twins, who were obviously furious, called, "That's rubbish!"

Dumbledore, however, pressed on loudly, "This is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts champion." Despite the serious note in his voice, Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled when they landed on the twins' mutinous faces. Anna thought they looked like pouting toddlers. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen."

Anna briefly noted this was probably why Molly, and maybe her own mother, weren't upset about the Tournament coming to Hogwarts. With the age restriction, none of their own children could enter. Sneaky mothers.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!" Dumbledore finished before sitting down to speak with Moody.

The scraping and banging of the benches echoed as students got up and began leaving.

"They can't do that!" George exclaimed as their group stood up. He was glaring up the Hall at Dumbledore. "We're seventeen in April, why can't we have a shot?"

"Maybe because you'll only be sixteen when the champions are chosen?" Anna suggested sarcastically.

"They're not stopping me entering." Fred declared stubbornly, scowling in the same direction as his twin. "The champion's get to do all sorts of stuff you'd never be allowed to do normally. And a thousand Galleons prize money!"

"Yeah." Ron had a faraway look on his face, as if picturing winning the money himself. "Yeah, a thousand Galleons…"

"Come on," Hermione urged them, "we'll be the only ones left here if you don't move."

The group left the Great Hall, the twins debating between themselves the possible ways Dumbledore might stop underage people from entering.

"Who's this impartial judge who's going to decide who the champions are?" Harry asked curiously.

"Dunno," Fred answered, "but it's them we'll have to fool. I reckon a couple drops of Aging Potion might do it, George…"

"Dumbledore knows you're not of age, though." Ron pointed out.

"Yeah, but he's not the one who decides who the champion is, is he?" Fred countered shrewdly. "Sounds to me like once this judge knows who wants to enter, he'll choose the best from each school and never mind how old they are. Dumbledore's trying to stop us giving our names."

"People have died, though!" Hermione reminded them in a worried voice as they walked through a door concealed behind a tapestry and started up a narrowed staircase. The twins and Anna lead the way with the younger trio behind them.

"Yeah, but that was years ago, wasn't it? Anyway, where's the fun without a bit of risk? Hey, Ron, what if we find out how to get 'round Dumbledore? Fancy entering?"

"What d'you reckon?" Ron asked Harry. "Be cool to enter, wouldn't it? But I s'pose they might want someone older…Dunno if we've learned enough…"

"I definitely haven't." Neville's gloomy voice sounded from behind them. Anna glanced over her shoulder at him, looking forward again in time to jump a trick step like it was second nature. "I expect my gran'd want me to try, though. She's always going on about how I should be upholding the family honor. I'll just have to-oops…"

Anna glanced back once more to see that Neville's foot had sunk through the same trick step the others had stepped over. Harry and Ron seized him under his armpits and pulled him out. Meanwhile, a suit of armor creaked and clanked, laughing wheezily at them.

"Shut it, you." Ron snapped, banging its visor down as they passed.

They soon founded themselves at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she asked tiredly.

"Balderdash." George answered. At Anna's curious expression, he explained, "A prefect downstairs told me."

The portrait swung open and they all clambered inside. Anna could've sworn she heard Hermione muttered something like, "Slave labor," as she passed on her way to bed, but she didn't think anything of it.

Anna sighed heavily, plopping down onto the corner of the couch, kicking her shoes off, and curling up against the couch arm.

"Alright, so we'll need to head to the library tomorrow and look up the Aging Potion." George was saying to Fred as they joined Anna on the couch by the fire.

"You two aren't really serious about this, are you?" Anna asked them, knowing the question was pointless. Of course they were serious.

"Of course!" they told her, looking surprised she even had to ask.

"Why wouldn't we want to enter? Aren't you even a little bit tempted?" Fred asked her.

Anna shrugged. "No, not really. I mean, it might be cool to watch, but I wouldn't want to enter. Inventing and testing joke products is one thing, but fighting for your life, glory, and gold against two other schools? Having the entirety of Hogwarts relying on you to win? I don't think so."

"All of Gryffindor relies on us to win the Quidditch Cup every year, you don't have a problem with that." George pointed out with a small, confused frown.

"I feel nauseous before every match." Anna pointed out. "And Quidditch isn't even half as deadly as this tournament seems to sound. You heard what Dumbledore said back there. They cancelled this thing because too many people _died_. Why would I want to risk my neck for everyone else's entertainment?"

"Fame."

"Gold." Fred, and then George, answered as if it were obvious.

"Neither of which is worth my life." Anna pointed out. "And I'm not nearly good enough or confident enough in my abilities to win. Even if I managed to enter my name, you really think I'd be chosen out of every other Hogwarts student who enters? I highly doubt it."

George and Fred were both frowning at her, though for some reason Fred's expression seemed a bit more…defensive. Maybe even aggressive.

"Of course, I forgot. The Great Annabelle Black is above such things." Fred muttered curtly.

"Fred." George warned in a quiet voice.

Anna, however, was taken aback by Fred's hostility. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Nothing." Fred muttered, shaking his head.

"No, clearly you've got something on your mind." Anna argued, sitting up straight and looking at him expectantly.

Fred sighed harshly and glanced at George, who shook his head subtly.

"It's just that…Look, you wouldn't understand, alright?" Fred finally said.

George rested a hand on Fred's shoulder and spoke, "What my slightly less intelligent twin _means_ to say," He gave Fred a hard look before turning back to Anna, "is that…your parents have money. And everyone knows you based mainly on your last name. We're pretty much the opposite. We have hardly any money to our name, our dad works overtime just to put food on the table, all our stuff is secondhand,…we could really use this tournament. I mean, can you imagine what we could do with a _thousand Galleons_?"

Anna shook her head, slightly baffled. "But…I mean, you guys have all that money from your bet with Bagman. And, I mean, I've offered to help with the financial aspects of the shop stuff, but you won't let me. I don't think I'm above you because of money, you have _no idea_ how much I envy you two!"

" _You_ envy _us_?" the twins repeated doubtfully.

"Yes! I've spent however many years sitting at home alone nearly everyday because my dad was locked up and my mum was working all the time. Do you have any idea how many times I wished I had a sibling? Or that my mum didn't work so much? I would've given all the money in my vault just to have my mum home once in a while. I love my family, and everything's much better now, but I always envied you and your family because what you lacked in money you made up for in basically everything else! You're always surrounded by your family, your siblings, you're never bored, you're happy, you all love each other. You have more immediate family members than I do extended family members. Well, family that I'm close to." she added after thinking a moment.

The twins were both staring at her, their eyes slightly wide.

"Didn't think of that." George muttered, looking down.

"Yeah, well, maybe you should." Anna muttered, standing up and heading to bed. She wasn't really angry at them, but they'd had this discussion before, and having it again was irritating and insulting. Like they thought she actually put stock in how much money someone's family has. That was something her father's family would do. And if she prided herself on anything, it was that she was nothing like the rest of the Black family.

 **XXX**

 **Ooh, tension! Hope everyone liked this chapter, even if nothing new or very exciting happened. Let me know what you all thought of this chapter. And be ready for some teenage drama in the future.**


	19. Potions

Monday morning came much sooner than Annabelle would've liked. She dressed in her school robes, pocketed her 12 2/3 inch long wand made of English Oak with a unicorn hair core, grabbed her shoulder bag of school books, and headed down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

She found Fred, George, and Lee sitting halfway down the table and sat next to George before serving herself food. She didn't greet them or receive a greeting, as they were too occupied discussing ways to magically age themselves. About halfway through her breakfast, Professor McGonagall swept down the table and handed them each their schedules for the year.

"Oh, Ms. Black, have you made your decision on what career you intend to go into?" McGonagall asked, pausing behind Anna.

"Oh, yeah. I'd like to go into the Investigation Department." Anna answered. She'd made the decision after talking it over with her dad and Remus one day over the summer.

McGonagall nodded with a small smile. "Very good. I'll add it to my records."

With that, she moved on to continue handing out schedules.

Once she was gone, Anna glanced over her own schedule.

"Yes! We start the day with Defense Against the Dark Arts!" George cheered, having looked his list over.

"Do you have any other classes today, Anna?" Fred asked curiously, leaning forward to see her around his twin.

Anna nodded as she put her schedule away. "Yep. Potions after lunch."

All three boys laughed at her expense, rubbing it in her face that they didn't have to take a class with 'that slimy git', also known as Professor Snape.

When they finished eating, they all got up and headed down the corridor toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. A handful of students were already there, so they found seats near the back. George and Lee sat at the table in front of Fred and Anna. The class talked among themselves until a loud _clunk, clunk, clunk_ grew gradually louder until the door swung shut.

"You can put your books away, you won't need them." a gruff voice told them. Fred and George grinned as the whole class did as told, putting their books back into their bags.

Professor Moody limped his way between the desks to the front of the room, moving behind the desk that stood there. He gave a very quick role call, his normal eye not leaving the parchment while his magical eye moved about the room, landing on each person as they said 'Here'.

"Now," he threw the parchment back onto the desk and straightened to face them, "I'm only here for this year, and only because Dumbledore asked me to. I've gone over what you've all learned so far, and you're far behind on curses. So, that's what we'll be focusing on this term."

Moody turned around and began writing something down on the blackboard when he suddenly spoke again.

"If you're smart, you'll find another place to put your gum, Mr. Jordan."

Everyone turned to look at Lee, who had been in the process of putting his gum under the desktop. Lee and George looked at each other, Lee's mouth hanging open and George laughing quietly at his expense.

Fred chuckled and Anna covered her mouth to stifle her own laughter.

"Now, we're going to start off this term," Moody continued, turning around after writing on the blackboard, "learning about the Unforgivable Curses."

The lighthearted mood caused by Lee's gum incident instantly evaporated. Anna's smile dropped from her face and her body went tense. She wasn't sure how many students actually knew what the Unforgivable Curses were, but if they didn't, they at least picked up on the tension and fears of the other students.

"The Ministry doesn't think you should be educated on these curses. I say you should be prepared for what's out there. Who can tell me why they're called 'Unforgivable'?" he asked, his magical eye darted around the room. "Yes." he said, pointing at a Slytherin girl near the front.

"Because if you perform them on another person you'll be sent to Azkaban." she answered promptly.

"Precisely. And it'll be a one-way trip, too. A life sentence." Moody added. "Now, can anyone name one of the Unforgivable Curses?"

Anna kept her hand firmly flat to the desktop as people slowly began raising their hands to answer.

"You. Spinnet." Moody called on Alicia, who was sitting one desk over.

"Well, my mum told me about the Imperius Curse."

Anna took a deep breath to calm herself down.

"Ah, yes. The Imperius Curse. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief after the war. How about I show you all why?"

Anna's mind raced with all kinds of horrible scenarios on how he would demonstrate, when he headed toward his desk and scooped something out of a jar.

" _Engorgio_!" he said, pointing his wand at whatever was in his hand. It grew and it was easy to see it was a spider, now about the size of his whole hand. " _Imperio_!"

The spider leapt from Moody's hand and landed on Montague's face. He started babbling in panic while the rest of the class began laughing. Then, the spider leapt onto the desk and did some weird dance before leaping over to the next desk, crawling on a Slytherin girl's hand. She had stopped laughing and began making high-pitched shrieking sounds.

Moody made the spider jump from person to person, creeping up their arms or landing in their hair. The room was full of shrieks and laughter. But Anna was silent, slouching low in her seat in hopes he wouldn't drop the spider on her.

"Now what should I have her do?" Moody asked, his tone surprisingly gleeful, his wand pointed toward the spider. "Jump out the window?" And the spider leapt across the room and dangled by a leg out the open window. The laughter fell silent almost instantly. "Drown herself?" And now the spider jumped into a nearby bucket of water. It didn't even try to swim, it let itself sink. Then it leapt back out and eventually ended up back in Moody's hand. A heavy tension had fallen over the room.

"Many people claimed they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the Imperius Curse. But here's the kicker…How do we sort out the liars? How do we know who was _really_ under the Imperius Curse?"

No one answered. They were all staring at Moody with looks of mild fear.

"Next one. Who knows another one?" Moody urged after a few moments of silence. People slowly raised their hands and he called on Warrington.

"The Cruciatus Curse." he answered, almost sounding bored.

"Yes, the torture curse." Moody said, placing the spider on his desk and stepping behind the desk so they could all see. " _Crucio_!"

Even from the back of the class, Anna could see the spider writhing in agony, it's body arching and legs bending in ways that clearly weren't natural. If it had a voice, she imagined it'd be screeching in pain.

Wincing, Anna lowered her eyes to the desktop.

"Anyone care to give me the last one?" Moody growled a moment later, apparently done torturing the spider. Yet Anna still didn't look up. She guessed no one raised their hands, because she caught a glimpse of a green flash as Moody growled, " _Avada Kedavra_!"

A tense silence filled the room, and Anna felt herself tremble.

"The Killing Curse." Moody said quietly. "Quick, lethal, impossible to defend yourself against. And only one person has ever survived it."

It was left without saying, though everyone could guess who that one person was.

Harry Potter.

The rest of class was spent taking notes. Professor Moody told them about other curses they would be studying, ways to fight them and defend themselves. He also seemed to yell "Constant vigilance!" randomly throughout the hour, making everyone jump.

Anna wasn't sure what she thought of Moody. Maybe she just wasn't comfortable with his teaching methods, given he mentioned he may use the Unforgivable Curses on them so they could practice fighting them, but either way, something about him made her nervous. And she had the feeling his magic eye could read her thoughts, though that was probably more her paranoia.

She didn't voice her thoughts out loud, however, as they were leaving that first class. Everyone else was going on and on about how _cool_ they thought Moody was.

The reached the Great Hall amidst a crowd of other students and headed for the Gryffindor table. Anna, Fred, George, and Lee reached Harry and the others just as Hermione got up and left. Fred took her vacated seat.

"Moody! How cool is he?" Fred asked the group at large.

"Beyond cool." George answered, sitting across from Fred.

"Supercool." Lee added, sitting beside George. Anna remained silent as she sat next to Fred. "We had him this morning." Lee told Harry and Ron, who were looking curiously at them.

"What was it like?" Harry asked them eagerly.

The twins and Lee exchanged meaningful looks, while Anna just looked away on the pretense of grabbing some potatoes.

"Never had a lesson like it." Fred finally answered.

"He _knows_ , man." Lee added earnestly.

"Knows what?" Ron asked, leaning forward.

"Knows what it's like to be out there _doing_ it." George explained impressively.

"Doing what?" Harry asked.

"Fighting the Dark Arts." Fred answered as if it should've been obvious.

"He's seen it all." said George.

"'Mazing." Lee added.

Anna glanced up in time to see Ron dive into his bag and pull out his schedule.

"We haven't got him till Thursday!" he groaned in disappointment.

"Hey, Anna, what'd you think of him?" Harry asked, leaning forward to look at her around Fred.

Anna took a bite to buy herself some time before swallowing and giving a smile. "Like they said. Never had a lesson like it." she answered honestly. Because she hadn't had a lesson like it. And she hoped, bleakly, that she wouldn't again. Wanting to change the subject, she asked him, "So, where'd Hermione rush off to? Lunch just started."

"No idea." Harry answered. "She just shoveled some food down and hurried off, said something about going to the library."

"Hm. Well, you know Hermione. When in doubt, go to the library."

XXX

That afternoon Anna and Alicia left their friends and headed to Potions class, as they were the only two to earn an 'O' in Potions. They entered the Potions classroom and sat at a table halfway up the room, near the wall.

By the time Snape arrived and shut the door behind him, there was only a total of thirteen students in the class. Anna counted three Gryffindors including herself and Alicia, three Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs, and four Slytherins. The only people she recognized were Kenneth Towler, the only other Gryffindor in the class, Roger Davies, the Captain of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff, and Warrington of Slytherin. She also recognized a Slytherin girl from their Defense class, but didn't know her name.

"Well, by some miracle you all managed to get an 'Outstanding' on your OWLs." Snape began, standing in front of his desk. "Congratulations, even if some of you don't deserve it." he drawled, eyes flickering in Anna's direction. "I've set out some of the Potions we will be going over this year." he announced, gesturing with a sweep of his arm toward a few different tables lining the front of the room. It had a set-up of different cauldrons, vials, and what looked like different kinds of ingredients. "Each Potion is labeled by a number, and it has clues such as some of it's ingredients. You are all to spend the first twenty minutes of class going through them all and writing down on a piece of parchment what you think the potion is. You will hand it in when you're done, and then I will tell you what each potion is. Clear? Good. Go." And with that, Snape swept around his desk and sat down to work on something else.

Anna dug a piece of parchment and her quill from her bag before following Alicia up to the front.

The two girls started at number six, the last potion, since most of the class was swarming around number one. This potion appeared to be set up in two different cauldrons. There was a note in front of the second cauldron that said, _'After the last ingredient is added'_.

"So, I'm assuming this one is before the last ingredient?" Alicia guessed, looking in the other cauldron and wrinkling her nose. The potion was thick and mud-like, bubbling very slowly. But it seemed after the last ingredient was added, whatever the last ingredient was, the potion thinned and changed to a paler color, as demonstrated in the other cauldron. Anna looked over the supposed ingredients set out around the two cauldrons. Lacewing flies, leeches, hair…

Anna looked a bit closer. "Hey, Alicia…what kind of potion uses a person's hair…? Oh, it's right on the tip of my tongue!" she whispered. "That one potion that changes your appearance so you can be someone else." she hissed, glancing around to ensure no one was listening and stealing their answers.

"Oh!" Alicia lit up and scribbled something on her parchment before turning it around for Anna to see. Near the bottom of her parchment she'd written: _'6. Polyjuice Potion'_

Anna snapped her fingers with a grin before writing the same thing down.

They moved on to number five, which a couple Ravenclaws had just reached as well, having already gone through every other potion it seemed.

This potion was clear. The ingredients surrounding it included water, powdered root of asphodel, infusion of wormwood, and a Sopophorous bean.

"Have you seen any potion like this?" Anna asked Alicia.

Alicia shook her head slowly, chewing her lip. "I've seen several potions with these ingredients, but not all together."

They tried to figure it out for a few minutes before deciding to skip it. They didn't want to waste all their time on the one potion.

The same thing happened with number four, until a Ravenclaw girl who had just reached it helped them out.

"It's the Hiccoughing Solution." she whispered to them while trying to protect her answers from Warrington and another Slytherin who were trying to peak at her parchment.

"Thanks." Anna and Alicia whispered back to her, writing the answer down. Alicia quickly showed the girl their answer for number six to repay her before they moved on to number three.

For some reason, Anna was drawn to this one. It had a Mother-of-pearl sheen to it, steam leaving it in spirals. She was tempted to breathe it in and did just that, breathing deeply through her nose. It smelled of many things all at once. A summer breeze, honeysuckle, hot chocolate, and a strange mixture of gunpowder, a woodsy smell, and something strong and salty.

"I've never smelled a potion like this one. Do you recognize it?" Anna asked, glancing at Alicia, who stepped up next to her and took a whiff.

Her brows lifted just a bit. "Huh. No, I haven't." She took another smell and smiled. "It smells like my mum's perfume."

Anna looked at her strangely. "Really? I can understand the honeysuckle, but gunpowder?"

"What are you talking about?" Alicia asked her in confusion.

"What are _you_ talking about?" Anna countered.

"I smell jasmine. Well, and other things." she admitted, turning back to the cauldron to smell it again. "I smell my broomstick handle. And fresh strawberry ice cream. What do you smell?"

Anna blushed and glanced around self-consciously. "Um, well…a summer breeze…honeysuckle, hot chocolate…" she sniffed the potion again, "and some strange mixture of…I think gunpowder and wood and…something salty. I don't know."

Alicia stared at her with wide eyes for a moment. "That's a strange combination. But I don't know any potions that smell differently to different people." she admitted, looking at the cauldron as if it were a puzzle.

"I haven't the slightest idea what this potion could possibly be." Anna added.

"Shall we skip it?" Alicia offered.

Anna nodded and they moved on to number two. It was in a small vial and was a molten gold color. The ingredients surrounding it included a murtlap tentacle, a tincture of thyme, and powdered common rue. After a few minutes, they gave up on that one, too, having no clue what it was.

By the time they reached number one about half the class was sitting in their seats. Anna only had to look at the potion, which was bright green and surrounded by daisy roots, Shrivelfig, sliced caterpillars, and wormwood; and she instantly knew it was a Shrinking Solution. They'd done an essay on it their second year. She told Alicia the answer, wrote it down, and returned to their seats.

Within five minutes, everyone else was sitting and Snape stood up from his seat.

"Write your name on your answers and pass them forward. I shall be grading them based on how many you got right."

"We haven't gone over most of those potions." Anna whispered to Alicia as they passed their parchments forward, "How many does he expect us to get right?"

"Probably all of them." Alicia grumbled quietly, rolling her eyes.

"Or none of them." Anna countered quietly, to which Alicia nodded.

Snape didn't speak again until he had everyone's parchments and placed them on his desk.

"Now, number one should've been one of the easiest for even the thickest moron to get right. Number one is the Shrinking Solution. If you remember, I had you brew it your third year. It is designed to revert the subject to a younger form. Why aren't you writing this down?"

There was a scrambling as everyone got their quills, inkwells, and parchment back out and began to rapidly write down everything Snape said.

"Number two is Felix Felicis, also known as Liquid Luck. Even a drop will give you perfect luck for a short period of time, but it is to be used sparingly. Large quantities are toxic.

"Number three is Amortentia, the most powerful love potion in the world." Snape continued, causing Anna to pause and glance up. "Of course, no potion can actually recreate genuine love, it merely creates a powerful infatuation or obsession. Amortentia smells differently to each person according to what attracts them."

Anna's brows furrowed as she wrote that down. 'According to what attracts them'? Then why would she be smelling things like gunpowder and salt?

She didn't have long to ponder that question, though, as Snape moved quickly on to number four, which was indeed the Hiccoughing Solution. Number five was the Draught of Living Death, and of course number six was the Polyjuice potion.

They spent the rest of the class taking notes on the different potions they'd be going over that year, with Snape slipping in snide comments about certain people not belonging in the class. _'Gee, wonder who he could be talking about.'_

"So, what grade do you think we'll get on that?" Anna asked Alicia as they left the class.

"We probably failed. Or least got a very low passing grade." Alicia answered. "I mean, we got three out of the six, that's 50%. So, yeah we probably failed."

"Well, he set us up to fail. How much do you want to bet he'll find a way to make sure his precious Slytherins pass?"

"Oh, I know he will. Even if he has to fill in a couple of their answers himself." Alicia nodded. They continued discussing Potions class until they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

When they climbed into the common room, they saw Angelina and Katie sitting at a table in the corner, seemingly working on homework.

"Hey." Anna and Alicia greeted them, dropping their bags and sitting in a couple empty seats.

Ang and Katie looked up and greeted them. "How was Potions?" Katie asked curiously, looking over at Anna, who was sitting next to her.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Slimy git of a teacher, really hates me, kept making snide comments, and I'm pretty sure most of the class failed our first assignment." Anna answered casually, leaning back in her chair.

"You guys already had an assignment and turned it in?" Angelina asked, her brows raised slightly, though she didn't look entirely surprised.

"He set out six potions we'll be going over this year and we had to guess what they were. We got three of the six right." Alicia answered.

"Sounds like Snape." Angelina muttered, looking back down at the textbook she was reading. "Which is why I'm glad I only got an 'E' on my Potions OWL."

"So, where're the boys?" Anna asked curiously, glancing around the partially empty common room. "They didn't have any other classes today that I know of."

"They're in the library. Looking up the Aging Potion." Katie answered, closing the book she'd been reading and slipping it into her bag.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Of course they are." she sighed.

"So I take it you don't approve of their idea." Ang guessed.

"No, not really." Anna shook her head.

"So,…do you just not like the idea of them entering the tournament? Or is it the age thing?" Ang asked slowly.

Anna shrugged. "It's the age thing. I mean, obviously I'm not much of a rules person, given who my friends are, but there's an age restriction for a reason. I just think they're wasting their time."

"So,…if I were to enter, you wouldn't think I'm stupid or something?" Angelina asked casually.

"Your birthday's in October, isn't it?" Angelina nodded. "Well, then you'll be of age in time to enter. And I would honestly prefer cheering you on as opposed to some Hufflepuff, or worse, Slytherin."

They laughed again, Alicia and Katie voicing their agreement.

About fifteen minutes later, the portrait swung open and Fred, Lee, and George climbed in and headed toward them.

"Hello, ladies." Lee greeted them, pulling up a chair between Angelina and Alicia. Fred and George pulled chairs up to the empty side of the table.

"So, any luck?" Katie asked curiously.

"Yep." Fred grinned and held up a small, folded piece of parchment. "Wrote out the ingredients and the instructions down to the last detail. Now we've just got to brew it."

"Are you sure it's a good idea?" Alicia asked doubtfully while Anna leaned forward and snatched the parchment from him to read it over. "I mean, didn't you guys fail your Potions OWL?"

"OWLs aren't everything, Leesh." Fred told her with a wink.

"Well, it doesn't seem too difficult." Anna admitted, reading it over. "You should be fine as long as you stick to the instructions. I have faith you won't poison yourselves." she grinned playfully at them, leaning over to hand the parchment back to Fred.

"Aw, thank you, you're too kind." Fred returned her grin, pocketing the parchment. But Anna had paused in returning her butt to her seat, frozen in a half-standing position. She'd caught a whiff of something. Something eerily familiar.

"What are you doing?" Katie asked her, leaning back as Anna was in her personal space for longer than necessary.

"Oh, um," Anna sat back down as everyone at the table stared at her, "nothing. Just thought of something."

Everyone began talking about other things while Anna's eyes traveled to the twins, where she was sure the smell was coming from. She wasn't sure which twin, if not both, the smell was coming from, but she knew where she recognized it from.

The Amortentia.

Anna silently surveyed the two while everyone talked and laughed. They both had a very light sheen of sweat on their faces, which was understandable. The castle was mildly hot and everyone was probably sweating to some extent. And that explained the mildly-salty scent from earlier, which she now recognized to be sweat. Now she just needed to get close enough to smell them individually.

 _'And it's thoughts like that, that make you sound crazy,'_ Anna thought to herself, sighing and running her hands through her hair.

"You okay?" Katie asked her, sounding worried. The conversation, though it continued, quieted slightly as the twins glanced at her.

"Yeah, fine. Just thinking about Potions." Anna answered, not completely lying.

"Oh yeah, how is Potions with the slimy git?" George asked curiously, leaning his elbows on the tabletop.

"We probably failed our first assignment." Alicia told them, before giving a brief explanation of what happened in their class.

"Sounds like fun." Fred grimaced to show his dislike.

They talked for a while longer before packing their things away and heading down to the Great Hall for dinner. By coincidence, Anna ended up walking between Fred and George.

As they walked down the corridors, Anna very subtly turned her head toward George and took a small sniff near his shoulder.

He smelled of gunpowder and slightly sweaty. She could also smell something that reminded her a bit of the Burrow, but…the woodsy scent was a bit richer and earthier, a bit like the soil in Herbology.

Glancing up at his face, Anna ensured he hadn't noticed her unusual behavior before turning and sniffing a little bit near Fred's shoulder.

Just like George, he smelled of gunpowder and sweat, as well as the Burrow a little. But the woodsy scent smelled just like the one from the Amortentia.

Fred. She smelled Fred in the Amortentia. _'What the heck?'_

"What?"

Anna looked up to see Fred and George looking at her, and the others were looking over their shoulders at her as they walked.

"Huh?" Anna asked, looking around at them.

"You just said 'What the heck?'." George told her slowly, as if talking to a child. "What was that about?"

"Oh, um,…sorry, just lost in my own thoughts." Anna laughed it off nervously.

But as they continued walking to dinner, she couldn't help letting that phrase pass her thoughts a few more times.

 _'What the heck?'_

XXX

Thursday night, Anna left the library and headed for the Gryffindor common room. She'd spent most of her spare time that day since her Care of Magical Creatures class that morning in the library. She'd been working on the couple essays, chapter readings, and practice work she'd been assigned for Herbology, History of Magic, and Charms. She'd managed to finish most of it before her brain shut down, but she could easily finish the rest of her homework in time to have most of her weekend to herself.

"Balderdash." Anna said tiredly when she reached the Fat Lady's portrait. She swung her portrait open so Anna could climb into the common room.

The room was mostly empty, a few kids spread out around the room. She saw Harry and Ron at a table, probably working on homework. Then she saw the twins sitting against the opposite wall and instinctively headed toward them. They had their heads bent together, quills out, and were pouring over a single piece of parchment. Just as she neared them, George shook his head at his brother and scratched something out on the parchment with his quill.

"No-that sounds like we're accusing him. Got to be careful…" he whispered very quietly before looking up. His eyes landed briefly on Harry before moving to Anna.

Anna started to say 'hi' when George straightened up abruptly.

"Anna." he said loudly, making Fred's head snap up and stare at her with wide eyes. He then quickly pulled the parchment closer to himself, hiding its contents against his chest.

"Um, hi." she said slowly, unsure about what just happened. She'd thought whatever they were up to was joke shop related, but they wouldn't hide that from her. "What are you guys up to?" she asked carefully.

"Nothing you need to worry about." George answered easily, resting his arms on his bent up knees, his quill hanging loosely from his fingers.

"Yeah, just random stuff." Fred agreed.

Anna nodded slowly, keeping her face carefully blank even as she felt a sharp pain in her chest. The twins had never really kept her out of the loop. They were a trio. They didn't lie to each other. But here they were, clearly stonewalling her from whatever it was they were doing.

"'Kay, well, um…I'm tired, so I'm going to bed." she finally forced herself to say, hiking up the strap of her bag and moving toward the girls' staircase. She heard the twins call out their goodnights to her, but she didn't respond. She just wanted to go to bed.

XXX

Anna sat with Angelina instead of Fred in Transfiguration on Friday. At breakfast, lunch, and dinner she tried not to act weird around her friends so they wouldn't notice something was wrong, and she think she succeeded. On Saturday she visited Hagrid and hung around with him for most of the day, walking with him and Fang around the grounds and helping him with little jobs.

The times she was around Fred and George, things were mostly the same as they always have been, but it felt slightly different. Though, no one else mentioned anything so it was probably in her head.

Finally, on Sunday evening Anna made a trip to the kitchens, craving some ice cream or chocolate.

The house elves greeted her as enthusiastically as ever and the words were barely out of Anna's mouth before they brought her bowls of different kinds of ice cream and several bars of chocolate.

Sitting at one of the tables, Anna pulled a bowl of vanilla ice cream and one of strawberry toward her, as well as a bar of chocolate.

"Where are your Wheezys, Ms. Black?" a small elf came up and asked her curiously, her floppy ears barely visible over the side of the table.

"Oh, they're probably in the common room." Anna answered with a small smile, knowing the little elf was referring to the twins. She poked at her ice cream with her spoon, taking a bite when the little elf walked away. Even though she hadn't really been around the twins much less than normal, she felt surprisingly lonely with them leaving her out of the loop.

Anna didn't hear the kitchen door swing open until all the house elves swarmed past her squeaking, "Mr. Wheezys! Mr. Wheezys!"

Anna looked over her shoulder to see Fred and George, who were staring at her in confusion. For some reason, when she looked at them, their expressions became worried.

"Anna, what's wrong?" Fred asked while George briefly greeted the house elves. The two slowly moved around the elves toward her.

"Nothing. Why would something be wrong?" Anna asked, forcing an easygoing smile onto her face.

Fred sat next to her while George moved around the table, both of them staring at her worriedly.

"Um, this?" Fred whispered, reaching toward her and swiping his thumb across her cheek. Only then did Anna notice a small drop of water on his thumb. Reaching up quickly, Anna swiped her hands over her cheeks, wiping away a few more tears that had apparently fallen without her noticing.

Clearing her throat, she gave them a reassuring smile. "Oh, um. Sorry, I didn't notice that. I'm fine, really." she assured them.

"You sure about that?" George asked from his spot sitting across from her, eyeing the multiple bowls and candies surrounding her.

"Yeah, I just needed some junk food." Anna answered, looking down at her bowl of ice cream.

"Anna, what's really going on?" Fred asked her, "You've been acting weird around us the past few days."

"And you've been avoiding us." George added.

Anna chewed her lip, staring down at her slowly-melting ice cream. She wanted to take another bite to buy herself some time to answer, but her throat kept closing.

Finally, she sighed, closing her eyes.

"It's just that…I feel like…I don't know. You guys are keeping something from me. I didn't think it would upset me this much, but we've never really kept secrets before. I mean, okay, yeah, I didn't tell you guys about Flint for a while, but that was completely different. But you guys completely brushed me off Thursday."

She glanced up in time to see George giving Fred a frustrated look that had an I-told-you-so kind of look to it. Fred sighed in defeat.

"Okay, okay…yeah, we've been keeping-" George cut Fred off by clearing his throat, " _I've_ been keeping something from you, George wanted to tell you." Fred corrected himself, glaring at George.

Anna looked between them with her brows furrowed curiously.

"Go ahead, Gred. Tell her." George suggested, staring his twin down.

Fred sighed, looking over at Anna.

"You remember that bet we made with Bagman?"

"Of course." Anna answered promptly.

"Well,…he paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught before the match." Fred admitted.

"But…leprechaun gold…Hagrid told me about that, it vanishes after a few hours, doesn't it?"

"Yep." George nodded grimly. "By next morning it was gone."

Anna gaped at them, looking back and forth between them. "Why didn't you tell me?!" she demanded.

"Yeah, Fred. Why didn't we tell her?" George asked sarcastically, leaning his elbows on the table and looking across at his twin.

Fred's ears turned a bit red as he looked down at the table.

"Just didn't want you to give us a lecture, I guess. You told us the bet was stupid, and…you don't understand what it's like."

"What what's like?" Anna asked quietly.

"Being poor." Fred answered simply, finally looking at her. "Not having hardly any money to your name. We lost all our money in that bet. I just didn't want to hear you say 'I told you so'."

"I would never say that to you!" Anna told him, feeling hurt he'd actually think that of her. "Yes, I thought making the bet was stupid, but you won. Bagman was the one who screwed you over. That is not your fault."

Fred grinned at her, seeming to relax a bit. "Thanks."

Anna smiled back, feeling a sense of relief that they were talking again. That they were trusting each other.

"Now, what are you guys doing to get him to pay up?" she asked, sounding very business-like as she set her elbows on the table and folded her hands together.

"What makes you think we're doing anything?" George asked with a smirk.

"Because I know you two and I know you're not going to take this lying down." Anna told him.

"See, Fred, I told you she'd understand." George told his twin, gesturing to Anna with his hand.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up." Fred laughed before turning to Anna. "And, yes, we have been doing something. We wrote to him the day before we got on the Hogwarts Express, so…just over a week ago. We basically just suggested there may have been a mistake and asked him to meet us."

"You don't really think it was just a mistake, do you?" Anna asked them doubtfully.

"'Course not!" George exclaimed, "We're pretty sure he did it on purpose, but we don't wanna go accusing him and making him mad."

"Anyway, he ignored that letter so we wrote a second one Thursday night." Fred continued.

"We had a bit of a debate on what to actually write in it." George said, giving Fred a look. "Freddie here is starting to get frustrated and was honestly considering accusing him of not paying us, and even considering threatening him. Not with his life or anything, but threatening nonetheless. I, on the other hand, want to take a more sensible approach."

Fred rolled his eyes, nodding his head grudgingly. "We haven't sent that one yet. We want to give him a little more time to get back to us."

"Alright, well, let me in on this." Anna told them. "I want to help you guys get your money."

The twins grinned appreciatively.

"Well, we'll wait a few more days, and if we don't get a response we'll work on another plan. But don't worry, you're definitely in this with us." Fred assured her.

Anna grinned, wrapping an arm around his shoulders in a hug. There was a sense of relief between the three of them. Even though their little rift had been minor and not too serious, it was a relief to have their friendship back to normal.


	20. A Fourth Champion

The next morning, Anna went to Defense Against the Dark Arts with her classmates and heard a phrase that terrified her.

"Today, you're going to practice fighting the Imperius Curse." Moody growled.

Anna tensed and gripped the edge of her desk.

"You okay?" Fred leaned over and whispered to her.

Anna didn't speak, merely nodded as Moody asked for volunteers. Montague raised his hand with a smug smirk and Moody gestured him up to the front of the classroom.

Moody pointed his wand at Montague and said, " _Imperio!_ "

There wasn't much of a change in Montague's appearance, other than he may have relaxed a bit more than he already was. Then, he lifted his hands so one hovered in front of his abdomen and the other was up near his head, and he then began waltzing in place.

Most of the class burst out laughing as Montague danced around the room. Despite the situation, Anna couldn't help the twitch of her lips. It was a little amusing.

After Montague, Moody made a Slytherin girl climb onto a desk and jump from desk to desk, Angelina did back flips, Lee played hopscotch, and Warrington picked his nose and ate his boogers.

Moody's magical eye scanned the class after Warrington sat down before it landed on Anna, who was slouching in her chair in an attempt to remain unseen.

"You. You're a Black, aren't you?" he growled.

Anna swallowed and nodded, trying not to look scared.

"Who're your parents?"

"S-Sirius and Wren Black." she admitted.

"Ay, right. Should've guessed." Moody growled, nodding his head. "Why don't you come on up here?" he suggested, waving her up with his hand.

Hands shaking, Anna stood up and slowly approached the front of the room. She could feel everyone's eyes on her before she turned to face the class standing next to Moody, though a couple feet away.

"Professor," Montague raised his hand with a smirk, "she's a Metamorphmagus. You could make her change." he suggested eagerly. Anna glared at him when he met her eyes, smirk growing.

"A Metamorphmagus, eh?" Moody pondered. Anna could feel his magical eye moving over her, but she refused to look at him. Instead, she let her eyes focus on Lee, Fred, and George at the back of the room. "Well, there's an idea. _Imperio!_ "

Anna tensed up, but then she was filled with a wonderful feeling. It felt like she was floating and every thought and worry was wiped away, leaving nothing but a vague happiness, though she couldn't place where that happiness was coming from. She was vaguely aware of the class watching her, but she didn't care. She was just too relaxed to care. Then, she heard a familiar voice in her head.

 _"Change your appearance to look like Albus Dumbledore."_

Anna started to change her appearance, but then another voice entered her head.

 _"Why?"_

She paused thoughtfully. Why should she change to look like Dumbledore? What was the point in that?

 _"Change your appearance to look like Albus Dumbledore."_

 _"What's the point? That just seems stupid."_

She could tell she was stuck about halfway between transforming, and a few people were laughing. There was a short, white beard hanging from her chin, she felt older and taller, and her nose was longer and a bit crooked.

She tried to make her traits go back to their original appearance, but it was very difficult so she was stuck mid-transformation.

 _"Change your appearance to look like Dumbledore!"_

 _"Why would I want to look like Dumbledore?"_

 _"Think of the possibilities. Do it."_

Anna could feel herself changing, and then she knew she looked like an exact replica of Albus Dumbledore. Then, the floating sensation trickled from her, every little worry she'd been feeling returned, and she became distinctly aware of the whole class staring at her. Realizing what had happened, Anna looked down at her feet and quickly made her appearance return to normal.

"Very good, very good. You actually put up a bit of a fight." Moody growled, patting Anna harshly on the back. "Sit down, now, Black. You, Weasley. No, the other Weasley. Yes, you come on up."

Anna walked back to her desk, passing George who patted her shoulder on his way to the front of the classroom. She sat down in her seat next to Fred, her eyes staring blankly ahead of her.

"You okay?" Fred asked her quietly, "You're shaking."

Anna looked down at her hands, which rested atop the desk, and realized they were, indeed, shaking. As she stared down at them, another, slightly larger hand spattered with freckles rested on hers and gripped it tight to stop the shaking. She stared down at their hands, Fred's hand warming hers and his calluses rubbing against the smooth skin on the back of her hand.

"Relax, Anna." he whispered, closer to her ear than before. "It was just a demonstration in class. You're safe here."

Anna couldn't help thinking that she didn't even need to tell Fred why she was shaking. He just knew. He knew that she'd always been a little scared of someone using the Imperius Curse to make her impersonate someone. Especially using it for a darker purpose.

Anna turned her head and looked up at Fred, suddenly noticing how close he was. His brown eyes were searching hers, his expression both worried and protective. Just knowing he was there for her made the shaking stop, slowly but surely.

They were interrupted by a loud "Bwok-BWOK!"

Startled, they both turned their heads toward the front of the class, their hands jerking apart. Fred instantly started laughing with the rest of the class, and even Anna couldn't help chuckling.

George was strutting around hunched over with his arms bent back like a chicken, making chicken sounds.

It was hilarious and offered a nice distraction of the unease Anna had felt after being placed under the Imperius Curse.

XXX

Over the next couple of weeks, Anna and all the other sixth year students received lots of homework and NEWT practices, even though they weren't due to take their NEWTs until the next year. Anna also heard about Malfoy taunting Harry and Ron over a _Daily Prophet_ article insulting Arthur Weasley. All she knew of the incident was there was an argument, Harry turned his back, Malfoy tried to hex him, and suddenly Moody transformed Malfoy into a ferret. Despite her unease in regards to Moody, which hadn't gone away yet, she found it as hilarious as the twins, who fell over laughing when they heard the story from Ron and Harry.

She also heard Hagrid had gotten angry at Malfoy during a Care of Magical Creatures class and threatened him by claiming he might 'take a page out of Moody's book', adding that he'd heard Malfoy made a good ferret.

A couple weeks after Moody made Anna look like Dumbledore, Anna was following the mass of students heading to lunch, but they were blocked in the entrance hall by a crowd surrounding a large sign at the foot of the marble staircase.

Anna couldn't tell what the sign said, so she followed Fred and George as they pushed their way through the mass of people until they came to a stop near the front. Anna peaked between a couple students' shoulders to read the sign.

 **TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT**

THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND

DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK

ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL

END HALF AN HOUR EARLY.

STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS

TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT

OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE

THE WELCOMING FEAST.

That sign had an enormous affect on the whole castle. The following week, the tournament seemed to be the only topic of discussion. Everyone was debating who the Hogwarts champion would be, what the tasks would involve, and what the other schools were like. The castle was vigorously cleaned. Grimy portraits were scrubbed and suits of armor were gleaming and didn't squeak when they walked. It was also clear the staff was tense, though it was hard to tell if it was due to anticipation or dread.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Anna asked as she read over the letter. Fred plucked it from her fingers and tucked it back into his robe pocket.

"We don't have many other options, Anna." Fred pointed out as they entered the Great Hall for breakfast the morning of October 30th. The Hall had been decorated over night. Huge silk banners hung from the walls, each representing a House. There was a red one with a gold lion, a blue one with a bronze eagle, yellow with a black badger, and green with a silver serpent. Behind the teachers' table was the largest banner of all with the Hogwarts coat of arms; the lion, eagle, badger, and snake united around a large H.

"I just don't want you guys to get in trouble." Anna explained as they sat down at their table. Anna sat across from the twins. "Maybe you should consider rewriting the letter. Are you sure he hasn't tried to get in touch with you?"

"I'm pretty sure we would've noticed." Fred told her, raising his eyebrows sarcastically.

"I know, sorry." Anna sighed, resting her cheek in her palm. "Bummer."

"It's a bummer alright." George agreed gloomily. "But if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him the letter after all. Or we'll stuff it into his hand. He can't avoid us forever."

"Who's avoiding you?" Ron asked as he sat next to the twins.

"Wish you would." Fred told him, irritated at the interruption.

"What's a bummer?" Ron asked George, leaning around Fred to speak while Harry and Hermione sat next to Anna.

"Having a nosy git like you for a brother." George told him briskly. Anna fought a smile as she poured herself some tea.

"You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet?" Harry asked the twins, "Thought anymore about trying to enter?"

"I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen, but she wasn't telling." Fred admitted bitterly. "She just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon."

Anna chuckled at the memory. Her and Fred had been partners, since George hadn't moved on to Transfiguration this year.

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be?" Ron pondered thoughtfully. "You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We've done dangerous stuff before."

"Not in front of a panel of judges, you haven't." Fred pointed out, "McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks."

"Who are the judges?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel," Hermione answered, causing them to all look at her in surprise, "because all three of them were injured during the tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on a rampage." Hermione looked up and finally noticed all of them looking at her. With an air of impatience, she added, "It's all in _Hogwarts, A History_. Though, of course, that book's not _entirely_ reliable. _A_ Revised _History of Hogwarts_ would be a more accurate title. Or _A Highly and_ Selective _History of Hogwarts, Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School_."

Anna eyed Hermione in confusion.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked.

" _House-elves_!" Hermione's eyes flashed angrily. "Not once, in over a thousand pages, does _Hogwarts, A History_ mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!"

Anna looked away and rested her chin in her hand. Harry shook his head and focused on his scrambled eggs. Ron rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, which was flooding them with Autumn sunlight. Fred was suddenly very interested in his bacon.

Anna and the twins had refused to buy one of Hermione's S.P.E.W badges when they found out what they were all about.

George, unlike the others, leaned toward Hermione across the table. "Listen, have you ever been down in the kitchens, Hermione?"

"No, of course not." she replied curtly. "I hardly think students are supposed to-"

"Well, we have," George gestured to Fred and Anna, "loads of times, to nick food. And we've met them, and they're _happy_. They think they've got the best job in the world-"

"That's because they're uneducated and brainwashed!" Hermione argued hotly.

The mail began arriving in that moment, distracting most of them for a moment. Anna, on the other hand, turned to the bushy-hair Gryffindor.

"Hermione, I understand your thought process. But you also should understand that this issue, like many, isn't simply black and white. The issue with house-elves isn't a simple argument of right and wrong. Now, before you talk over me, please just let me speak, I'm not good at the whole debating thing." she added quickly when Hermione opened her mouth to argue again. "I will admit some house-elves get mistreated. Like the elf Dobby you guys have mentioned before. The Malfoys obviously beat him, and I don't agree with that. The thing is, you don't have to beat a house-elf to make them do what you want. They love helping people, they _want_ to help people. And the house-elves in Hogwarts are probably the luckiest elves in the world. They are always so happy and cheerful when we go down there, practically skipping at the thought of helping us out. So before you start going around trying to talk the house-elves into freedom, you may want to keep that in mind. Because honestly, a lot of them will just get offended if you do."

Hermione looked like she may have pondered Anna's argument, but she still looked defiant when they all left breakfast for their classes. Anna headed to Transfiguration with Fred.

XXX

Since her and Fred only had Transfiguration, they met up with George, who didn't have any classes on Fridays, in the boys' dormitory to work on their Canary Creams a bit more, having nearly perfected them. When they heard the other Gryffindors return to the Tower to return their bags, they put their things away, pulled on their cloaks, and followed the others down to the entrance hall.

The whole entrance hall was filled with anticipation. The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines. McGonagall was snipping at people about their hair and clothes.

"Follow me, please." called McGonagall, "First years in front…no pushing…"

They filed down the front steps and lined up outside in front of the castle. The evening was chilly, but clear. The sky was a dark purple, the sun having just passed below the horizon, and a pale, nearly-full moon was shining over the Forbidden Forest. Anna couldn't help thinking Remus was probably just recovering, given the full moon had been the night before.

"How d'you reckon they're gonna get here?" Lee asked curiously from their spot six rows back. All of them had their eyes fixed on the road leading to Hogsmeade.

"Maybe the train?" George suggested.

"Maybe they apparated into Hogsmeade?" Anna suggested. "Most of the students will be of age to enter."

"Or a Portkey." Alicia guessed.

"That makes sense." Angelina agreed with a nod.

"However they get here, I hope they hurry up." Anna muttered, wrapping her arms around herself and rubbing her arms. "I'm freezing."

The night was silent and it was steadily growing darker. The crisp breeze that kept cutting through their clothes wasn't helping.

"Aw, don't want our poor little Annabelle to freeze." Fred cooed teasingly, dropping his arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side. Anna rolled her eyes, but leaned a bit closer to him since he was warm.

Suddenly Dumbledore's voice rang out over their heads from the back row where he waited among the other teachers.

"Aha! Unless I'm very much mistaken, the delegations from Beauxbatons approaches!"

"Where?" many voices asked at once, students all looking eagerly in different directions.

" _There!_ " another sixth year just down the row from Anna called, pointing out over the forest.

Something enormous was hurtling toward the castle high in the sky.

"It's a dragon!" someone near the front shrieked in a panicked voice.

"Don't be stupid…it's a flying house!" someone else shouted.

As it came close, Anna saw that this second guess was closer to the truth. As the light from the castle windows hit the large, black object it was revealed to be a huge, powder-blue, horse-drawn carriage the size of a large house. There were a dozen winged palomino horses, each the size of an elephant.

The front few rows of students backed up as the carriage began descending towards them at a terrifying speed. Then, with a loud crash that made several students jump, the horses dinner-plate-sized hooves hit the ground. A second later, the carriage's wheels bounced down upon the ground.

Anna, being the animal enthusiast that she was, hardly spared the carriage a glance. Her eyes were fixed on the horses for a few moments. They were tossing their enormous heads, their large, fiery red eyes glowing in the dark.

The door to the carriage opened and a boy in pale blue robes jumped down, bent forward and fumbled with something on the carriage floor before unfolding a set of gold steps. He sprang back respectfully in time for a black high heel the size of a child's sled stepped onto the first step.

"Whoa." Lee and George muttered in shock as Fred and Anna's mouths fell open.

The woman wearing the shoe was probably the largest person Anna had ever seen, including Hagrid. As the woman stepped into the light flooding from the open front door of the castle, Anna saw she had olive-toned skin, a handsome face, large, black eyes, a beak-like nose, and her hair was pulled into a knob at the back of her neck. She was wearing a black satin dress, and several large jewels were on her neck and fingers.

Dumbledore started clapping, and the students followed his lead.

The woman's face relaxed into a smile as she walked toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Even though Dumbledore was far from short, he didn't even need to bend to kiss her hand.

"My dear Madame Maxime." he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," Madame Maxime greeted in a deep voice, "I 'ope I find you well?"

"In excellent form, I thank you." Dumbledore answered.

"My pupils." she continued, waving a large hand carelessly behind her.

Surprised, Anna finally tore her eyes from the enormous woman to find about a dozen boys and girls had emerged from the carriage and were standing behind Madame Maxime. They were all in their late teens and were shivering considering their robes appeared to be made of fine silk and they weren't wearing any cloaks over them. A few had scarves or shawls, and they were all staring up at Hogwarts looking apprehensive.

"'As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.

"He should be here any moment." Dumbledore answered, "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"

"Warm up, I think. But ze 'orses-"

"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," said Dumbledore, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other-er-charges."

"Probably those Blast-Ended-Skrewts." Anna muttered with a grin. She was relieved she wasn't in Hagrid's fourth year class, having seen glimpses of what they had to deal with. "Ooh, I hope he lets me help with those horses." she whispered again, bouncing in place two times.

Lee snorted. "Yeah, I can imagine you taking care of those horses. They'd either drag you around or trample you."

Their friends laughed while Anna leaned back so she could whack Lee on the head from around George.

"My steeds require-er-forceful 'andling." Madame Maxime looked as though she doubted someone from Hogwarts could handle her horses. "Zey are very strong…"

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job." Dumbledore said with a smile.

"Very well." said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform zis 'agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"

"It will be attended to." Dumbledore assured her with a slight bow.

"Come." Madame Maxime called to her students. The Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.

They waited for a few minutes, nearly everyone shivering now in the cold. The only sound was the horses snorting and stamping their hooves.

"Do you guys hear that?" George suddenly asked in a quiet voice, as if afraid if he spoke too loud the noise would stop.

There was a strange noise coming from somewhere in the distance. A muffled rumbling and sucking sound; wet and squelchy as if from something on the riverbed.

"The lake!" Lee suddenly yelled, pointing down toward it. "Look at the lake!"

Since they were standing at the top of the grounds, their view of the lake was unobstructed and they could easily see that the surface of the dark water was being disturbed by something below the surface. Great bubbles were forming and waves were washing over the banks. Then, in the middle of the lake a whirlpool appeared, as if the lake was merely a bathtub that someone was now draining. Then, a long, black pole began to rise from the center of the whirlpool. Then, Anna saw a rigging attached to it. Finally, a ship rose up from the depths, gleaming in the moonlight. The ship had an eery look to it, as if it were a resurrected wreck, and there were dim, foggy lights in the portholes.

Finally, the ship rose from the water entirely and glided toward the bank. Within a few moments, they heard a loud splash of the anchor being thrown into the shallows, followed by the thud of a plank being lowered to the bank.

Anna stood on her tiptoes to see the people getting off the ship. All she could see were glimpses of their silhouettes from the lights shining from the portholes. They all looked huge and bulky. However, as they drew nearer she realized they were wearing cloaks of shaggy fur. The man leading them, however, was wearing a different fur cloak, one that was sleek and silver to match his hair.

"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as they continued up the slope. He had a strange, fruity, slightly creepy voice. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff."

As Karkaroff stepped into the light from the front doors, his features became more apparent. He was tall and thin with short, white hair, and a goatee that ended in a slight curl covering a weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook his hand with both of his own.

"Dear old Hogwarts." he said, looking up at the castle and smiling. Something in his smile seemed fake and cold. "How good it is to be here, how good…Viktor, come along, into the warmth…you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold…"

Karkaroff beckoned one of his student forward, and the small mass of Durmstrang students shifted to allow one of their own to move to the front. Anna caught a look at his face between two shoulders and her mouth fell open.

She smacked Fred's arm and tugged on George's sleeve.

"Guys, it's Viktor Krum." she hissed.

"Blimey, it is!" Lee gaped, standing on his toes to get a look.

Fred laughed. "Ron's gonna piss himself."

Anna shook her head in amusement as George laughed with his twin.

"How is he still in school?" Angelina asked in shock.

"More like _why_ is he still in school?" George countered. "If he's that famous, what's he need school for?"

"Maybe for a future career after a Bludger knocks him in the head one too many times?" Anna suggested sarcastically.

The Hogwarts students turned and followed the Durmstrang students back into the entrance hall, heading for the Great Hall. Lee kept bouncing up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several girls were frantically searching their pockets for quills, wanting an autograph.

Anna followed the others to the Gryffindor table to sit, Anna between the twins. The Durmstrang students were still gathered near the doorway to the Great Hall, while the students from Beauxbatons had taken seats at the Ravenclaw table, looking around with glum expressions. After a few moments, the Durmstrang students took seats at the Slytherin table. The Durmstrang students looked happier than the Beauxbatons students. They were pulling off their heavy, fur cloaks and looking up at the enchanted ceiling with interest.

"Why's Filch adding four chairs to the staff table?" George asked suspiciously. "There're only the two other Headmasters."

Sure enough, Filch had just finished adding four chairs to the staff table, two on either side of Dumbledore's.

Soon, all the students had entered the hall and settled at their tables among their friends. The staff entered last, taking their usual seats at the staff table. Dumbledore, Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime were the last to enter the Great Hall. At the sight of their headmistress, the Beauxbatons students quickly rose to their feet. A few people laughed, but they appeared unashamed and did not take their seats again until Maxime had sat down on Dumbledore's left side. Dumbledore remained standing and didn't speak until silence fell over the Great Hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and-most particularly-guests." Dumbledore began, beaming around at their guests. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbatons girls who was clutching a muffler around her head gave a disdainful laugh.

"Well, _someone's_ got an attitude." Anna muttered, rolling her eyes at Katie, who was sitting across from her.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast." Dumbledore continued, "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

As he sat down, the plates in front of them all magically filled with food. There was more food than any other feast Anna had been to yet, and there appeared to be a great variety, too. There were some obviously foreign dishes, clearly to make their guests more at home.

"What is _that_?" Lee asked, wrinkling his nose and pointing at some kind of stew that had shellfish in it.

"I think it's called Bouillabaisse." Alicia answered uncertainly. "My aunt, she's French, she made that for a family gathering last Christmas. It was okay, but I'm not sure it agreed with my stomach." she admitted, making the others chuckle.

Anna shook her head with a grin before serving herself some Shepherd's Pie and a bit of Spaghetti Bolognese.

About twenty minutes later, Anna glanced up at the staff table when she saw the door behind it open. Hagrid sidled down the table and took his usual seat. He waved at Anna, and then Harry, Ron, and Hermione with a heavily-bandaged hand.

"Skrewts doing alright, Hagrid?" Harry called over the noise.

"Thrivin'." Hagrid called back happily.

"That's concerning." Anna muttered, making Angelina laugh.

Anna reached across George to grab a bowl of peas. Just as her fingers brushed the edge of the bowl, she glanced up past the dish, her eyes landing on the staff table again. When her eyes landed on the two new figures who were taking their seats at the staff table, she froze. After a few moments, she quickly drew her hand away from the bowl of peas and whacked George on the arm.

"Ow! What?"

"Staff table." she whispered, her eyes still fixed on the two figures.

George followed her gaze and she felt him stiffen.

"Fred!" he hissed, turning to look at his twin from around Anna.

Fred turned, followed their gazes, and froze.

The two empty seats had just been filled. Mr. Crouch, Percy's boss, was sitting next to Madame Maxime. Sitting next to Karkaroff…was Ludo Bagman.

"Well, well, well,...look who it is." Fred muttered with a smirk, his voice so low only Anna, and maybe George, could hear him.

"This just got interesting." George whispered, turning to look at the two of them with a matching smirk.

"You're acting like him being here is a good thing." Anna told them, confused.

"It is." George told her promptly.

"He's on our turf, now." Fred explained. "He can't ignore us for long."

"Just don't anything _really_ stupid." Anna begged them.

The twins spent their dessert discussing possible ways of approaching Bagman in between bites of pie. Anna put in her own thoughts and ideas as she ate treacle tart and ice cream.

Before long, all the plates were wiped clean and Dumbledore stood up again. A tense, excited silence fell over the room as everyone waited for him to speak. Fred and George leaned forward to stare at Dumbledore with an eager sort of concentration. Anna, not wanting to have to battle to see past George's head, leaned back a bit to get her own view.

"The moment has come." Dumbledore started, smiling around at their eager faces, "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket, just to clarify the procedure we will be following this year: But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation-" There was a brief moment of polite applause, "-and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

Bagman got a much louder applause, probably because of his fame, but maybe also because he looked much friendlier than Crouch. Anna, Fred, and George gave a few polite claps, but the twins were practically glaring up at the man. While Crouch didn't smile or wave, Bagman gave everyone a jovial wave, beaming out at them.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued when they fell quiet again, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts."

The word 'champions' caused just a slight change in the atmosphere of the Great Hall. Anna, herself straightened her back just slightly, her fingers twitching as if tempting to tighten into a fist. Everyone was hanging on Dumbledore's every word. As if sensing this, Dumbledore smiled.

"The casket, then, if you please, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking in the far corner, approached the front of the Great Hall carrying a large, ancient-looking wooden chest encrusted with jewels. Excited murmurs rose up from the students.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman," Dumbledore announced as Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways…their magical prowess-their daring-their powers of deduction-and, of course, their ability to cope with danger."

It was as if the castle itself was holding its breath as Dumbledore spoke that last word. Everyone had their eyes fixed on Dumbledore, not moving, talking, or hardly breathing.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament, one from each of the participating schools." Dumbledore continued calmly, "They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: the Goblet of Fire."

Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped the top of the casket three times. The lid creaked open slowly. Dumbledore then reached inside it and pulled out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been very ordinary-looking except for the blue-white flames dancing within the brim.

Dumbledore closed the casket and placed the goblet gently on top of it, so it was clearly visible to everyone.

"Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line."

Fred snorted quietly near Anna's ear.

"Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

"An Age Line!" Fred grinned as they all stood up, benches scraping the floor around them as everyone moved to leave the Great Hall. "Well, that should be fooled by an Aging Potion, shouldn't it? And once your name's in the goblet, you're laughing-it can't tell whether you're seventeen or not!"

"But I don't think anyone under seventeen will stand a chance," Hermione pointed out, "we just haven't learned enough…"

"Speak for yourself." said George shortly, "You'll try and get in, won't you, Harry?"

Harry looked thoughtful, but Ron cut into their conversation.

"Where is he?" he asked, looking through the crowd. "Dumbledore didn't say where the Durmstrang people are sleeping, did he?"

His question was answered instantly. As their group came level with the Slytherin table, Karkaroff had rejoined his students.

"Back to the ship, then." he said to his students, "Viktor, how are you feeling? Did you get enough? Should I send for some mulled wine from the kitchens?"

Anna followed the twins around and past the Durmstrang students, barely seeing Krum shake his head as she entered the entrance hall.

XXX

Anna woke up Saturday morning, dressed in a comfy pair of jeans and her Weasley jumper, and headed down into the common room. Seeing no sign of the twins, she headed across the room and went up the boys' staircase.

She knocked on the sixth years' door before pushing it open and stepping inside.

Fred was in the middle of pulling his shirt over his head and Anna caught a glimpse of his mildly toned stomach. She blushed and instantly turned to George and Lee, who were both dressed and pulling their shoes on.

"Morning." she called.

"Morning." they all chorused.

"We were just about to take a drop each of the Aging Potion." Fred told her, now completely dressed and sitting on his bed to pull his shoes on.

"Sure you don't want to enter?" Lee checked with her, standing up and grabbing a small vial off his bedside table.

"Nah, I'm good. I doubt anyone would want to watch me perform any of these tasks." Anna told him with a small smile.

"Alright, let's do this." George grinned, rubbing his hands together as he joined the other two boys in the middle of the room. One by one, they poured a drop onto their tongues.

"There. Now let's get down to the entrance hall." Fred suggested.

They hurried down the corridors, the twins and Lee laughing and joking. Halfway, Anna hopped onto George's back and made him carry her all the way down to the entrance hall. The Goblet of Fire was in the center of the hall atop the stool that normally held the Sorting Hat, a thin, golden line forming a circle ten feet around the goblet on the floor. With their loud laughter, the two dozen people examining the goblet turned their heads and watched as they entered. Anna slid to the floor and followed them down the staircase.

They approached Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting off to one side.

"Done it." Fred told them. "Just taken it."

"What?" Ron asked.

"The Aging Potion, dung brains." Fred told him.

"One drop each." George added, rubbing his hands together with glee. "We only need to be a few months older."

"We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins."

"What about Anna?" Ron asked, glancing pointedly at Anna.

"I want no part of this." Anna informed them, holding her hands up in surrender. "And I've got plenty of gold in my vault. I'd probably just use it making more joke stuff, anyway."

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know. I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this." Hermione pointed out warningly. The three boys ignored her.

"Ready?" Fred asked the other two, quivering with excitement. Anna felt her lips twitch, watching him. "C'mon, then-I'll go first-" Fred pulled a slip of parchment from his pocket, the words _'Fred Weasley-Hogwarts'_ scrawled across it in his handwriting.

He walked up to the edge of the line and stood there for a moment, rocking on his toes like a diver preparing for a fifty-foot drop. Anna gave a silent huff of laughter, shaking her head in amusement, but her eyes remained fixed intently on him. Finally, with everyone watching him, he took a deep breath and stepped over the line.

Anna's mouth fell open. She didn't think it would work. George, seeming to also think it had worked, let out a yell of triumph and leapt after Fred. However, the next moment there was a loud sizzling sound and both Fred and George were hurled out of the golden circle.

Anna flinched when they landed with two painful thumps ten feet away on the cold stone floor. There was a loud popping sound and they sprouted identical, long, white beards.

Anna laughed loudly with every other person in the entrance hall. She hurried through the crowd and joined them just as they were getting to their feet. In true Weasley-twin-fashion, they were also laughing at themselves once they got a look at each other's beards.

"I did warn you." a deep, amused-sounding voice spoke over the noise as Dumbledore came from the Great Hall into the entrance hall. He surveyed the twins with twinkling, blue eyes over his half-moon spectacles. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Ms. Fawcett, of Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers, of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little, too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is as fine as yours."

The twins beamed proudly before heading for the hospital wing, Lee howling with laughter as he followed them. Anna shook her head in amusement, but headed into the Great Hall to grab a stack of toast for them to eat.

When she entered the hospital wing, the twins were each propped up in a hospital bed and Lee was sitting in a chair between them, still laughing.

Anna sat down on the end of Fred's bed and handed them each a couple pieces of toast before eating her own.

"I figured it wouldn't work." she told them simply, unable to squash her smirk.

"Oh well." the twins chorused with identical shrugs.

"At least we tried." George added on his own. They both seemed perfectly fine with their failed attempt. Then again, that wasn't too surprising. The twins usually let things like that wash over them. Nothing truly bothered them for extended periods of time.

Madam Pomfrey arrived just as the twins finished eating their toast.

"Now, I want you both to drink this. You should be back to normal within fifteen minutes, though it may feel a bit strange." she told them.

"You two were once normal?" Anna asked in mock confusion. "When was that?"

The twins glared playfully at her, smirks tugging at their lips before they chugged the small vials of potion Pomfrey handed them.

Lee had to leave about five minutes later, but Anna, having nothing better to do, decided to stick around until the twins were permitted to leave.

"So," Fred started, shifting a bit to sit up straighter against his pillows, "we were thinking of confronting Bagman."

"You _what_?" Anna hissed in disbelief.

"Well, not aggressively or anything." George assured her. "Just ask him to talk, maybe sit down over some drinks and discuss this like adults."

"We are practically adults, after all." Fred pointed out in what could have been a serious voice if the sentence hadn't almost made Anna laugh. Thinking of the twins as adults was slightly amusing.

"You _really_ think that would work?" Anna asked them dubiously.

"You never know if you don't try." they chorused.

"And how are you going to go about that?" Anna asked, looking between them. It was mildly distracting with their beards, which were now only a few inches long as they slowly shrunk over the last ten minutes.

"Just politely approach him and ask to talk." Fred answered as if it were obvious. "It shouldn't be that difficult."

"And if he says 'no'…?" Anna trailed off questioningly.

"Plan B." they answered together.

"I'm almost afraid to ask." Anna muttered.

XXX

As soon as the twins were released, they all headed back down to the entrance hall in time to cheer Angelina on as she put her name in the Goblet of Fire. She was beaming with a slightly-nervous expression.

Later that night, they all headed back toward the Great Hall for the Halloween feast. As usual, floating candles were lit, a cloud of live bats were fluttering about near the enchanted ceiling, and hundreds of carved pumpkins sat in every corner.

The Goblet of Fire had been moved and was now standing in front of Dumbledore's empty chair.

Anna sat between the twins, and Harry, Hermione, and Ron arrived a bit later than everyone else and sat with them.

"Hope it's Angelina." Fred told them as the younger trio sat down.

"Same here." Anna nodded.

"So do I!" Hermione agreed breathlessly. "Well, we'll soon know!"

The food magically appeared, lots of it Halloween-themed. The feast felt like it took longer than normal, possibly because it was their second feast in two days. Or it could've been the anticipation of finding out who the champions would be. Everyone was constantly craning their necks to see if Dumbledore was done eating. Even Anna was guilty of this, even though she didn't necessarily care who was chosen.

Finally, their golden plates magically cleared themselves. There was a sharp increase in the noise level of the Great Hall, which died instantly when Dumbledore stood up.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision." he began. "I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber" he pointed to the door behind the staff table, "where they will be receiving their first instructions."

He took out his wand and swept it around, extinguishing all the candles except those inside the carved pumpkins, plunging the room into semidarkness. The Goblet of Fire shone more brilliantly now, the bright blue-white flames nearly painful to the eyes. Yet that's where everyone's eyes remained fixed. Watching, waiting…Few only looked away to check their watches.

"Any second." Lee whispered from Fred's other side.

Suddenly, the goblet's flames turned red. Sparks flew from it and a moment later, a tongue of flame shot into the air, spitting out a charred piece of parchment. The whole room gasped.

Dumbledore caught the piece of parchment and held it as arm's length to read it by the fire's light, which was once again blue.

"The champion for Durmstrang," he read clearly, "will be Viktor Krum."

"No surprise there!" Ron yelled as applause and cheers erupted around the hall. Anna clapped politely, not being as big of a fan of Krum as everyone else. Of course, even she had to admit that Krum being picked for Durmstrang wasn't too surprising. Krum rose from the Slytherin table and disappeared through the door into the next chamber.

After a moment, the clapping and chattering died down and everyone stared, once again, at the goblet. Seconds later, it turned red and a second piece of parchment shot from the flames.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," Dumbledore read, "is Fleur Delacour!"

A girl with silver-blonde hair got gracefully to her feet and strode between the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables to the door Krum had entered moments before.

As they applauded, Anna noticed that several of the other Beauxbatons students had broken down into tears at not being chosen.

"Sheesh. Dramatic much?" Anna muttered directing Fred and George's attention to the girls. They both snorted.

When Fleur disappeared, silence fell once again, the most tense silence yet. The Hogwarts champion would now be chosen…

As it had done two times before, the flames turned red, sparks shot from the goblet, and a third piece of parchment flew into the air and into Dumbledore's outstretched hand.

"The Hogwarts champion is," he read, "Cedric Diggory!"

The twins groaned and Fred smacked the table, but no one really heard them except for Anna because the Hufflepuff table next to them had leapt to their feet and were screaming as Cedric stood up. He was grinning broadly as he headed for the chamber behind the staff table. Anna clapped politely. She didn't feel animosity toward Cedric like the twins, but she certainly wasn't his number one fan, either. Especially after the comments his dad made to Harry.

The applause for Cedric went on much longer than the others, and it was some time before Dumbledore could be heard.

"Excellent!" he called happily when they finally quieted down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champion every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real-"

Anna had stopped listening to Dumbledore around the moment he stopped speaking, and it was apparent to everyone in the Hall, why.

The fire in the goblet had turned red again. Sparks were flying from it just like it did three times before. And finally, a long flame shot another piece of parchment into the air. Dumbledore reached out a hand and caught the parchment, as if it were second nature. Anna held her breath, unaware she was clenching her fist around Fred's arm. Something wasn't right…

Dumbledore stared at the parchment for a long moment. Everyone stared at him, holding their breath and waiting for him to speak. Finally, he cleared his throat and read:

" _Harry Potter._ "

Anna's breath left her in an audible _whoosh_ as her head slowly turned to stare at Harry, sitting across from her and a few seats down. She wasn't alone; every head in the Great Hall had turned to stare at him. He looked completely shocked, all color leaving his face. There was no applause, only a few angry whispers here and there.

At the staff table, McGonagall had risen from her seat and swept down to Dumbledore and whispered something in his ear.

Harry turned his head to look at Ron and Hermione. Anna watched him, feeling as if she were outside looking in.

"I didn't put my name in." he said blankly. "You know I didn't."

Near the front of the room, Dumbledore had straightened up, nodding to Professor McGonagall.

"Harry Potter!" he called again. "Harry! Up here, if you please!"

Thinking quickly, Anna could only focus on one thought. On one thing she needed to do. She stood up and hurried up the table to her Headmaster and Head of House. Dumbledore hardly spared her a glance, but McGonagall focused on her.

"Professor, I want to contact my dad." she whispered urgently. She could tell no one was looking at her. She guessed hardly anyone could tear their eyes from Harry, as if he were a circus act. "Please, he needs to be told."

McGonagall glanced at Dumbledore before nodding briskly at her. "With me, Ms. Black." she ordered quietly, leading Anna toward the door the other champions had disappeared into. They quickly entered the door and found themselves in a smaller room lined with paintings of witches and wizards. A large fire was roaring in the fireplace opposite them. Krum, Cedric, and Fleur were waiting by the fire, looking oddly impressive silhouetted against the fire.

The three looked up at them as they entered and Cedric straightened up.

"Professor? Do you want us back in the Great Hall?" he asked seriously.

"Not now, Mr. Diggory." McGonagall waved him off briskly and approached the fire. Anna self-consciously crossed her arms over her stomach as the three champions stared at her. McGonagall grabbed a pinch of Floo powder off the fireplace mantle and tossed it into the fire, promptly turning the fire green. She turned to Anna.

"At what address can I reach your parents?"

"Um, 78 Cottage Drive." Anna answered quietly.

McGonagall turned to the fire, called the address, and stuck her head into the fire. Anna's brows rose high on her forehead, but then she faintly heard McGonagall's voice talking into the fire.

 _"Sirius? Sirius! Are you home?"_

There was a moment of silence before Anna barely caught her father's voice.

 _"Minerva? What's wrong? Has something happened?"_

 _"I'm afraid so. Can you come through? We can explain everything here."_

 _"Of course._ Wren, I'll be back soon! _Here, let me through."_

McGonagall stepped back and pulled her head out of the fire. A second later, Sirius unfolded himself from the fire. He brushed his hair back from his face and looked around before his eyes landed on Anna.

"Anna? What's wrong?" he asked, instantly going to her.

"It's not me, it's Harry." she told him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. She pulled back and looked up into his worried, gray eyes. "His name came out of the Goblet of Fire."

"What?" Sirius quickly looked around at McGonagall.

"It's true." she answered his unasked question with a nod. "It seems he was chosen as a fourth champion."

Before anything else could be said, the door opened and closed and Harry entered the room slowly. When his eyes landed on Sirius, they widened and Anna thought she saw some hope in them.

"Sirius?"

"Professor McGonagall got me, on Anna's request." Sirius told him, approaching him quickly and resting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "What's this about your name coming out of the Goblet of Fire?"

"I didn't do it." Harry insisted, shaking his head. "I didn't put my name in."

They were interrupted once again by the sound of scurrying feet. Ludo Bagman entered the room. He took Harry's arm and lead him forward. Anna very much wanted to yank his hand from Harry's arm.

"Extraordinary!" he muttered. "Absolutely extraordinary! A fourth Triwizard champion!"

Krum had straightened up and was looking at Harry with a dark face. Cedric was looking between Harry and Bagman as if he hadn't heard what was being said. Fleur frowned.

"But zair must be a mistake. 'E cannot compete. 'E is too young." she argued.

The door opened again and a large group of people entered: Dumbledore, followed by Mr. Crouch, Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, and Professor Snape. Hundreds of students could be heard buzzing in the Hall before the door closed behind them. Anna could tell a few of them were surprised to see her father in the room as well.

Fleur instantly went to complain to her headmistress.

Madame Maxime pulled herself to her full height, the top of her head brushing a chandelier.

"What is ze meaning of zis, Dumbly-dorr?" she demanded imperiously.

"I'd rather like to know that myself, Dumbledore." Karkaroff spoke up. His smile was steely and eye cold as ice. "Two Hogwarts champions? I don't remember anyone telling me the host school is allowed two champions-or have I not read the rules carefully enough?"

" _C'est impossible_." said Madame Maxime, her enormous hand resting on Fleur's shoulder. "'Ogwarts cannot 'ave two champions. It is most unjust."

"We were under the impression that your Age Line would keep out younger students, Dumbledore." said Karkaroff, steely smile still in place. "Otherwise, we would, of course, have brought along a wider selection of candidates from our own schools."

"It's no one's fault but Potter's, Karkaroff." Snape spoke up softly, his black eyes full of malice. "Don't go blaming Dumbledore for Potter's determination to break the rules. He has been crossing lines ever since he arrived here-"

"Don't go putting the blame on Harry." Sirius snapped. "He says he didn't put his name in the goblet."

Dumbledore turned and looked down at Harry, who stared hopefully back at him.

"Did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire, Harry?" he asked calmly, as if talking about the weather.

"No." Harry answered simply. Everyone was staring at him. Snape made a noise of disbelief.

"Did you ask an older student to put it into the Goblet of Fire for you?" Dumbledore asked, ignoring Snape.

" _No_." Harry answered vehemently while it occurred to Anna that the twins could've just done that instead of the whole Aging Potion fiasco.

"Ah, but of course 'e is lying!" cried Madame Maxime.

"He could not have crossed the Age Line." McGonagall insisted sharply. "I am sure we all agree on that."

"Dumbly-dorr must 'ave made a mistake wiz ze line." Madame Maxime shrugged.

"It is possible, of course." Dumbledore agreed politely.

"Dumbledore, you know perfectly well you did not make a mistake!" McGonagall cried angrily.

"And if Harry says he didn't do it, he didn't do it." Anna spoke up before she could stop herself. She regretted it when every eye turned to her. "What? It's true! He hates being the center of attention, that much is obvious to anyone who looks at him." she defended. When her eyes met Harry's, she saw that he looked relieved and grateful to have people on his side.

"Shouldn't you be returning to your common room, Ms. Black?" Snape sneered at her.

"She asked McGonagall to get me, and I'm glad she did." Sirius snapped, shifting to stand between his daughter and Snape.

Crouch spoke up from his spot by the fire. Anna then noticed he looked much older than normal. "We must follow the rules, and the rules state clearly that those people whose names come out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete in the tournament."

"Could I take Harry's place?"

Everyone once again turned to stare at Anna and it took her a moment to realize she'd spoken her thought out loud.

"Anna-"

"Could I?" she asked, cutting her dad off. Now that it was out there, she may as well go with it.

Dumbledore gave her a warm, yet sad, smile. "I'm afraid not, Ms. Black. As Mr. Crouch said, the names that came out of the Goblet of Fire are bound to compete. There's a binding magical contract."

Anna sighed silently, nodding her head and looking down. Her dad put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and giving her shoulder a squeeze.

The adults argued a bit back and forth, but Anna didn't care much to listen. She heard something about Karkaroff demanding the chance to enter more of his students. When Moody entered the room, Anna noticed Karkaroff's fists clench and decided to pay attention again.

"It's very simple, Karkaroff." Moody was growling. "Someone put Potter's name in that goblet knowing he'd have to compete if it came out."

"Evidently, someone 'oo wished to give 'Ogwarts two bites at ze apple!" said Madame Maxime.

"I quite agree, Madame Maxime." said Karkaroff, bowing to her. "I shall be complaining with the Minsitry of Magic, and-"

"If anyone's got a right to complain, it's Potter," growled Moody, "but…funny thing…I don't hear him saying a word…"

"Why should 'e complain?" demanded Fleur, stomping her foot. "'E 'as ze chance to compete, 'asn't 'e? We 'ave all been 'oping to be chosen for weeks and weeks! Ze honor for our schools! A thousand Galleons in prize money-zis is a chance many would die for!"

"Maybe someone's hoping Potter _is_ going to die for it." Moody growled.

There was a very tense silence in answer to his words. Sirius pulled Anna tighter to his side and pulled Harry closer to him from his hold on the boy's shoulder.

"We all know Professor Moody considers the morning wasted if he hasn't discovered six plots to murder him before lunchtime." Karkaroff ended the silence loudly. "Apparently he is now teaching his students to fear assassination, too. An odd quality in a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dumbledore, but no doubt you had your reasons."

"Imagining things, am I?" Moody growled, "It was a skilled witch or wizard who put the boy's name in that goblet…"

"Ah, what evidence is zere of zat?" asked Madame Maxime, throwing her hands into the air.

"Because they hoodwinked a very powerful magical object!" Moody answered. "It would have needed an exceptionally strong Confundus Charm to bamboozle that goblet into forgetting that only three schools compete in the tournament…I'm guessing they submitted Potter's name under a fourth school, to make sure he was the only one in his category…"

"You seem to have given this a great deal of thought, Moody," Karakaroff noted coldly, voicing Anna's own thoughts, "and a very ingenious theory it is-though of course, I heard you recently got it into your head that one of your birthday presents contained a cunningly disguised basilisk egg, and smashed it to pieces before realizing it was a carriage clock. So you'll understand if we don't take you entirely seriously…"

"There are those who'll turn innocent occasions to their advantage." said Moody in a menacing voice. "It's my job to think as Dark wizards do, Karkaroff-as you ought to remember…"

"Alastor!" Dumbledore said warningly. Moody fell silent, but was still looking at Karkaroff with a look of smug satisfaction. Karkaroff's face was red.

"How this situation arose, we do not know." Dumbledore said to everyone in the room. "It seems to me that we have no choice but to accept it. Both Cedric and Harry have been chosen to compete in the tournament. This, therefore, they will do…"

Madame Maxime looked furious, as did Snape and Karkaroff. Sirius looked just as upset, but more at the situation than Harry or Dumbledore.

"Well, shall we crack on, then?" Bagman asked, rubbing his hands together and smiling around the room. Anna _really_ wanted to punch him. "Got to give our champions their instructions, haven't we? Barty, want to do the honors?"

Mr. Crouch seemed to be pulled out of his own thoughts, which he appeared to have been lost in.

"Yes, instructions. Yes…the first task…"

He moved into the firelight to give them their instructions for the first task, and Anna noticed he looked sick. There were dark shadows under his eyes and he looked pale.

"The first task is designed to test your daring," he told the champions, "so we are not going to be telling you what it is. Courage in the face of the unknown is an important quality in a wizard…very important…

"The first task will take place on November the twenty-fourth, in front of the other students and a panel of judges.

"The champions are not permitted to ask for or accept help of any kind from their teachers to complete the tasks in the tournament. The champions will face the first challenge armed only with their wands. They will receive information about the second task when the first is over. Owing to the demanding and time-consuming nature of the tournament, the champions are exempt from end-of-year exams."

Mr. Crouch turned to look at Dumbledore.

"I think that's all, is it, Albus?"

"I think so." answered Dumbledore, looking at Crouch with mild concern. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to stay at Hogwarts tonight, Barty?"

"No, Dumbledore, I must get back to the Ministry. It is a very busy, very difficult time at the moment…I've left young Weatherby in charge…Very enthusiastic…a little overenthusiastic, if truth be told…"

 _'Sounds like Percy,'_ Anna thought to herself.

"You'll come and have a drink before you go, at least?" Dumbledore offered.

"Come on, Barty, I'm staying!" Bagman insisted brightly. "It's all happening at Hogwarts now, you know, much more exciting here than at the office!"

"I think not, Ludo." said Crouch with a touch of impatience.

"Professor Karkaroff-Madame Maxime-a nightcap?" Dumbledore offered.

But Maxime had put her arm around Fleur's shoulders and was leading her from the room, both speaking in rapid French. Karkaroff and Krum exited behind them.

"Harry, Cedric, I suggest you go up to bed." said Dumbledore, smiling at them. "I am sure Gryffindor and Hufflepuff are waiting to celebrate with you, and it would be a shame to deprive them of this excellent excuse to make a great deal of mess and noise."

"And Harry," Sirius pulled Harry close and gave him a hug. Anna, who was still being held to her father's side by his other arm, heard him whisper, "be careful. There are some people in this castle who shouldn't be trusted. Write to me as often as you can, and I'll do the same."

Harry and Anna both nodded, pulling away from him and following Cedric out of the room. Anna barely caught her father talking to Dumbledore and the others before the door closed behind them.

The Great Hall was now deserted, the candles nearly burned out.

"So." Cedric started with a slight smile, "We're playing against each other again!"

"I s'pose." Harry muttered. Anna glanced at him and noticed he just looked dazed.

"So…tell me…" said Cedric as they reached the entrance hall, which was only lit by the torches. "How _did_ you get your name in?"

"I didn't." Harry insisted, staring up at the older boy. "I didn't put it in. I was telling the truth."

"Ah…okay." It was clear Cedric didn't believe him. "Well,…see you both, then."

Anna and Harry both mumbled their goodnights as Cedric turned and headed for a door to the right. They listened in silence as he appeared to go down several steps beyond it. Then, they turned slowly and started climbing the marble staircase.

They were silent as they made their way through the castle. Anna could tell Harry had a lot on his mind, and she wasn't sure if he wanted her to talk or not.

"For what it's worth," Anna finally started, deciding to go for it, "I believe you."

Harry turned and looked at her as they walked, nearly the same height. "You really believe me?" he checked hopefully.

"'Course." Anna shrugged. "You looked too pale and shocked when your name was called. And despite all that Boy-Who-Lived hype, I highly doubt you've got the brains and skills to outwit the Goblet of Fire." she ended teasingly, hoping to lighten the mood. Luckily, Harry grinned, bumping her with his elbow.

"Gee, thanks." he said sarcastically back.

When they were on the sixth floor, Harry spoke again.

"Do you think Moody was right?" he asked quietly. "Do you really think someone put my name in…hoping I'll die?"

Anna took in a deep, slow breath through her nose as she thought that over.

"Well,…on the one hand, Moody seems pretty…obsessed. He seems to think everyone's out to commit murder or something. On the other hand…why else would someone want you in this tournament? People have died in this thing, that's why they stopped doing it. So…"

"If I did die, it would just look like an accident." Harry muttered dully.

"But you know, Ron wasn't too far off earlier." Anna pointed out quickly, not wanting to freak him out. "You've done dangerous stuff before. Heck, you got the Sorcerer's Stone from Voldemort when you were only eleven! You killed a basilisk at twelve! If anyone's got a chance at surviving this, of _winning_ this, it's you."

Harry grinned in embarrassment, reaching up with his hand to scratch the back of his neck.

"I think I'll just focus on living through it for now."

Soon, they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Balderdash." Anna told her. The portrait swung forward to let them enter the common room. The burst of noise actually made Anna's head lean back a few inches before Harry was wrenched into the room. Anna followed him quickly. It seemed the whole of Gryffindor House was applauding and whistling at him

"You should've told us you'd entered!" Fred bellowed, looking half annoyed, half impressed.

"How did you do it without getting a beard? Brilliant!" George added.

"I didn't." Harry tried telling everyone. "I don't know how-"

But Angelina swooped in. "Oh if it couldn't be me, at least it's a Gryffindor-"

"You'll be able to pay back Diggory for that last Quidditch match, Harry!" Katie shouted.

"We've got food, Harry, come and have some-"

"I'm not hungry-"

Anna moved away from the crowd and stood in the corner, her arms crossed as she watched her godbrother worriedly. He kept trying to tell everyone he didn't do it, that he didn't put his name in, but no one seemed to hear or believe him.

"Hey." Fred approached her and passed her a bottle of butterbeer. She took it, but made no move to open it or drink it. "So, what'd you talk to McGonagall about?"

"I asked she contact my dad." Anna answered quietly. She wouldn't be surprised if he couldn't hear her over the noise.

"Really? And did she?" Fred asked, taking a sip of his own drink.

"Yeah. He came through the fireplace in the room we were all in. He's not happy about all this."

"He mad at Harry for entering?"

Anna turned and looked up at Fred, who's smile faltered seeing the seriousness in her expression. "Harry didn't put his name in. He really didn't. Considering how difficult it would've been to trick the goblet into picking four champions, Moody reckons it was a very powerful witch or wizard who did it. Harry wouldn't have had the skill to do that."

Fred nodded slowly, swallowing another swig of butterbeer. "So…is Harry still going to compete?"

Anna turned back to watch Harry, who was still be accosted by people.

"I tried offering to compete in his place." she admitted, seeing Fred's head whip around to stare at her out of the corner of her eye, "But there's a 'binding magical contract' so Harry has to compete even though he doesn't want to."

"Well,…he'll be fine. He's done stuff like this before, right?" Fred wrapped an arm around Anna's shoulders and pulled her into his side. "He'll be fine."

Anna sighed, resting her head on his shoulder. "I hope so."

 **XXX**

 **Well, not too much new stuff going on, but hey, at least it's a nice** _ **long**_ **chapter. Seriously, it's 22 pages!**

 **So, review and let me know what you thought of everything!**


	21. A Weasley Surprise

Sunday morning, Anna spent most of the day with the twins, working on some more of their joke product ideas. She noticed Harry seemed to have disappeared most of the day, though Hermione had taken a stack of toast to him for breakfast.

When Monday rolled around again, they unfortunately had to go back to classes. Anna went on ahead of the boys to Defense Against the Dark Arts, since they were being scolded by McGonagall for pranking some Ravenclaws. Of course, she had no clue Anna had been the one to plan the prank out.

"Excuse me?"

Anna jumped and looked over her shoulder when she heard the deep, strangely-accented voice speak nearby. She had to look up a bit at the boy who had stopped just behind her. Well, boy wasn't the right word. He was at least seventeen and pretty broad-shouldered under his red Durmstrang robes. He was tanned with sharp cheekbones, thick eyebrows, dark eyes, and black hair that was slicked back.

"Um, yes?"

"I vos vondering if you could tell me vhere your Herbology classes are held?" he asked, holding a small sheet of parchment. "That is my first class." he explained.

"Oh, um, that would be in one of the greenhouses." she started, leading him to a window across the corridor. "You see those long buildings across the grounds?" she asked, pointing out the window. "Those are the greenhouses. I'm guessing you'll be in greenhouse three, four, or five for your lesson. Just head out the front door and follow that path. If you're not sure which greenhouse you're in, ask Professor Sprout. You should be just fine." she told him with a small smile.

"Thank you." he said, dipping his head slightly. "My name is Oscar Markov. May I ask vhat your name is?" he asked, holding out his hand.

"Annabelle Black." she answered, taking his hand. Instead of shaking it, like she expected him to, he turned it slightly and lifted it to his lips, placing a small kiss to the back of her hand. Anna instantly blushed.

"It vas lovely to meet you, Annabelle. I hope to see you soon." he told her.

"I, um, you too. Have a good day." she stuttered, giving him a small smile before walking toward the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She forced herself to walk a casual pace and not run. She wasn't sure what to think of what just happened. She'd never been treated that way, especially by a guy. And she wasn't sure if she liked it or not yet.

XXX

It was clear that most of Hogwarts didn't like Harry much at the moment. They were all angry about him getting into the tournament and made it clear they would support Cedric over Harry. Just the first couple days of the week, most conversation among Hogwarts students was about Harry and Cedric. Anna also noticed Ron was avoiding Harry.

Anna sat down across from Harry for dinner on Tuesday evening.

"How's it going?" she asked casually as she began serving herself food.

"Oh, wonderful." Harry answered sarcastically. "I just love how everyone thinks I'm some attention hog that managed to put his name into the goblet. Gryffindors are calling me a hero, and everyone else is mocking me and telling me I'm not the real champion, as if that's supposed to bug me."

Anna gave him a sympathetic smile. "Don't let them get to you, Harry. Just focus on getting through the tasks. Who cares what everyone thinks?"

"We don't." the twins chorused, sitting down on either side of Anna. "What are you two talking about?"

"The tournament." Anna answered, resting her chin on her hand. "No one talks about anything else around here."

"I disagree."

"We talk about all kinds of things." Fred, and then George, told her. Harry grinned and Anna shook her head in amusement.

"Oh, I got a letter from Sirius this morning." Harry told Anna.

"Already?" Anna asked. "I knew he was worried, but he just spoke to you a few days ago."

"Well, he wanted to tell me a few things he didn't get the chance to with everyone around." he leaned forward on his elbows to get closer and spoke quietly, "Did you know Karkaroff, the Durmstrang Headmaster, was a Death Eater?"

"What?" Anna, Fred, and George all asked in unison, leaning forward as well and staring at Harry with wide eyes.

"Why would Dumbledore allow him to be here? And why is he teaching a whole school?" Anna demanded quietly.

"Maybe that's why he hired Moody for this year." Fred noted quietly.

"And that does explain how Moody and Karkaroff were acting towards each other Saturday night." Harry pointed out. "And remember that issue at Moody's the night before we got here?" Anna nodded. "Sirius thinks it's possible that someone may have attacked Moody to make sure he couldn't come to Hogwarts this year."

"It may fit with the rest of his theory." Anna admitted.

"And he mentioned we should be careful with Crouch. He's definitely not a Dark wizard, but he's obsessed with putting them behind bars. He was the one that gave the order to send Sirius to Azkaban without a trial." he added darkly.

"What?" Anna snapped. "It's that jerk's fault I grew up without a father? Well, that does explain how my dad acted at the Quidditch World Cup whenever Crouch was around. It was like he was trying to glare holes into the man's head. Makes sense, now."

"Yeah, well Sirius didn't give many details in the letter, but apparently Crouch was set to be Minister back near the end of the war. I guess he started going a bit overboard with his obsession to put Death Eaters behind bars, and a lot of people supported those ideas. Gave Aurors permission to kill instead of capture and use Unforgivable Curses and all that. But then I guess Crouch's son was caught among some Death Eaters."

"His _son_?" Anna breathed, her eyes going wide again. "Did he try and get him off? Is that why he didn't become Minister?"

"Guess not." Harry shook his head. "Sirius said Crouch wouldn't let anything tarnish his reputation, so he gave his son a trial and sent him to Azkaban. Guess he died about a year later."

"Hm. I almost want to say I feel sorry for them, but-"

"Excuse me? Annabelle?"

Anna's head jerked back and over her shoulder in surprise. Oscar Markov, the Durmstrang student she'd helped the day before, was standing there in his red school robes.

"Oh. Hi." she smiled politely at him.

"I did not get to see you again yesterday. I just vanted to say thank you for helping me yesterday." he told her.

"Oh, it was no problem." Anna told him with a smile. "Did you find your other classes okay?"

"Yes, I did. Thank you. Anyway, I hope you have a good night." he told her, smiling once more before heading toward the Slytherin table.

"You too." she called after him before turning back around. She glanced around to see Harry, Fred, and George staring at her. "What?"

"Who the bloody hell was that?" Fred demanded.

"Um, a Durmstrang-"

"That much was obvious." George cut in, resting one elbow on the table and turning to face her. "But how does he know you, and how do _you_ know _him_?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "I was going to explain that when you interrupted me. He needed help finding the greenhouses yesterday so I gave him directions."

"And he knows your name?" Fred asked, sounding either disgusted or angry, it was hard to tell.

"Yeah." Anna answered as if that were obvious. "He introduced himself after I told him how to find the greenhouses."

"So what's his name?" George asked.

"Oscar. What is with the third degree?" she demanded.

"Are you going to support Durmstrang now over Harry?" Fred asked, his tone bordering on being accusatory.

Anna gaped at him, her eyes narrowed angrily. "Did you seriously just ask me that?"

"Alright, guys, calm down." George spoke up, leaning closer to Anna to wave his hands between her and Fred. "Fred, you know Anna would never side with Durmstrang over Harry. That's completely absurd."

"Thank you." Anna spoke up, still glaring at Fred.

"But Anna, maybe you should just…be careful with that guy?" George suggested uncertainly.

"What are you talking about?" Anna asked, turning to look at him in confusion.

"I just…I don't know. Something about that guy feels off." George admitted. "And he's a Durmstrang. You never know what they're being taught down there. So just…please be careful?"

Anna sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Please, Anna?" Fred asked quietly. "We don't know that guy. Just stay away from him."

Anna narrowed her eyes at him. " _You_ are not in any position to tell me what to do, Fredrick Gideon Weasley. Not after that comment about me siding with Durmstrang."

"Okay, okay…I'm sorry I said that. I really am. I know you're siding with Harry, that's obvious. I just don't trust that guy. Please, just be careful."

Anna sighed, her glare melting off her face. "Alright, fine. I think you're both being ridiculous, but I'll stay away from him, if I can. I'm not going to be rude to him, because he's done nothing to warrant that, but I'll avoid him if I can."

"Thank you." the twins chorused with big grins. They leaned in and pecked each of Anna's cheeks at the same time.

"Yuck." she muttered sarcastically, wiping both her cheeks off with her hands.

Harry laughed at them as Hermione joined them for dinner.

XXX

The next day, Anna left her History of Magic class and headed toward the common room. However, she passed the hospital wing just as Hermione was leaving it.

"Hermione?" Anna looked at her in shock. The younger girl's eyes were red and her face was blotchy with dried tears. "What happened?"

"Oh, nothing." Hermione waved her off, wiping at her cheeks even though it didn't do much good. When Anna continued to stare her down, she admitted, "Well,…there was a bit of an incident outside the Potions classroom today."

"Like what?" Anna asked warily as they walked.

"Have you seen any new badges people have been wearing?" Hermione asked dryly.

"Oh, you mean those stupid 'Support Cedric' badges?" Anna asked, her nose wrinkled with dislike. She'd seen several people already, mostly Hufflepuffs and Slytherins, wearing badges that read:

'Support CEDRIC DIGGORY-

The REAL Hogwarts Champion!'

And when they push it, it would change to say 'POTTER STINKS'. It was disgusting and immature, in Anna's opinion.

"Yeah, those. Well, all the Slytherins in our Potions class were wearing them. And, well, long story short, Harry and Malfoy got into an argument, they drew wands, but their spells ricocheted. Harry's spell hit Goyle in the face, but Malfoy's hit me."

"Are you okay? What happened? What did it do?" Anna asked worriedly, tilting her head as they walked to double-check Hermione's face for any damage she may have missed.

"I'm fine, Madam Pomfrey fixed me up. But, um, the spell made my front teeth start growing. But that wasn't the worst of it." she admitted quietly, crossing her arms over her stomach as if protecting herself.

"What else could've happened?" Anna asked worriedly.

"Snape showed up."

"Oh, I can tell this is going to get ugly." Anna groaned.

"Yes. He asked what happened, and Malfoy told him-"

"Of course."

"Yep. So Snape told Goyle to go to the hospital wing. He's still in there right now. Ron forced me to show Snape my teeth, I'd been covering my face and he pulled my hands away to show them. Everyone was laughing at me. And Snape-well…Snape said he saw no difference." she finished, her voice thick and eyes glistening.

"Oh, Hermione." Anna scooted closer and wrapped her arm around the younger girl's shoulders, giving her a side hug. "That's not true, you know it's not. Snape's a foul, evil jerk. Don't pay any attention to what he says."

"I know." Hermione mumbled. "It was just humiliating, is all. In front of all the Slytherins and everything. They got a kick out of it."

"I'd like to get a kick out of them." Anna muttered, making Hermione crack a smile. "Don't worry, Hermione. I'll rally the twins and we'll get some payback for you. Snape won't know what hit him."

Hermione looked sideways at her, her expression a mixture of worry and curiosity. "I don't want you to get in trouble. Snape hates you enough as it is."

"That doesn't give him the right to treat you like he did." Anna stated firmly, looking her in the eye. Then, Anna's eyes narrowed. "You look different…"

Hermione blushed and gave a small, mildly sly smile. "Well, Madam Pomfrey had to shrink my teeth, and…well, I've been wanting to magically fix my teeth for a while, they have always been on the big side, after all. So, while she was shrinking them…I just let her carry on a bit longer than she needed to."

Anna smirked, shaking her head. "Well, look at you, being all sneaky, Granger. Well, either way, before and after that, you look nice."

Hermione blushed. "Thanks."

They reached the portrait hole at that moment, gave the password, and climbed into the common room. Hermione instantly went over to Harry, while Anna hurried over to the twins and Lee sitting in the corner.

"Alright, I've got a new target." she told them, plopping her things down on the table. "Snape is going _down_."

All three of them grinned deviously. "Ooh, excellent." Fred cackled, rubbing his hands together.

"What'd he do this time?" George asked curiously.

Anna quickly rehashed what Hermione had told her, and was pleased to see that Fred, George, and Lee all looked righteously angered by what the Potions Professor did to the younger girl.

"Alright, he's got to pay." Fred agreed firmly, to which the other two nodded. "Got any ideas?"

Anna smirked, which the other three quickly mirrored. "I may have a thought or two."

XXX

Anna hadn't found out until later that night about Harry leaving Potions early for some Wand weighing ceremony, another part of the Triwizard Tournament, during which Rita Skeeter forced him into an interview in a _broom cupboard_. But, soon, Skeeter's article was published for the whole wizarding world to see. She basically painted Harry out to be some kind of tragic hero that still cried himself to sleep over his parents and had a romantic relationship with Hermione. Anna, after seeing it and glancing over it, quickly asked him how much was true. Harry firmly told her that there wasn't a single fact in that article, she even got his age wrong!

Unfortunately, it seemed not everyone had the same open mind as Anna. Most people believed the article and tormented both Harry and Hermione about it.

"Hey, Harry, three questions for you." Anna stated abruptly as she sat next to him at lunch Thursday. "When's your next Potions class? Can I borrow your Invisibility Cloak? And where does Malfoy sit in your Potions class?"

"Um," Harry looked at her in bewilderment for a moment. "Well, I've got Double Potions Friday. Sure. And in the front to the left side. Why?"

"You'll see." Anna winked at him. "Just pass me your Cloak Friday morning."

The next morning, Anna met up with Harry in the entrance hall after breakfast. He passed her his Invisibility Cloak and she stuffed it into her shoulder bag, under her books.

"Do I want to know what you're up to?" he asked her cautiously, though he was fighting a grin.

"The less you know the better, I'm afraid." she told him with a smirk before hurrying off for Transfiguration. As that was the only class her and the twins had that day, they spent the rest of the morning perfecting their plans for Snape. Finally, the time for the fourth years' double Potions class arrived.

Fred waited inside one of the other dungeons, as all three of them couldn't fit under the Invisibility Cloak. So, George and Anna hid under the cloak and crept down the corridor until they found the Potions classroom. They entered silently, being sure to breathe as quietly as possible. Snape had apparently just set the class to work on a new potion, because they were all gathering ingredients.

Anna and George waited until the students were all sitting down again before moving stealthily into the room.

Malfoy's platinum blonde hair stood out like a beacon at the front of the classroom. Sticking close to the wall, Anna lead George, both still under the Invisibility Cloak, up the room toward his desk. They nearly got whacked by Millicent Bulstrode's enormous hand, but managed to side-step it. Finally, they reached the front desk and rounded it to stand closer to the front of the classroom.

Now, they just had to wait. As the class went about their potion brewing, Snape slowly prowled down the rows, sneering over peoples' shoulders and making rude comments about their potions.

Anna looked over her shoulder at George and barely breathed, "Ready?"

George smirked and nodded, holding his wand up.

A few moments later, Snape finally started making his way up the row toward Malfoy's desk. Anna gently elbowed George and he raised his wand. Very carefully, he poked the very tip of his wand out from between the ends of the Invisibility Cloak, so nothing was between his wand and his target.

Snape was only a desk away from Malfoy, who was starting to pour the next ingredient into his cauldron, when George performed a Nonverbal spell.

Just as Snape reached Malfoy's desk, the potion inside the cauldron expanded, and then exploded over the two of them.

Anna covered her mouth firmly with her hand and she could feel George shaking with silent laughter behind her.

Both Malfoy and Snape were covered in a yellowish slimy-looking potion. Malfoy's mouth was hanging open and he was staring at it in disgust and horror. Snape's eyes were closed for a moment before he opened them and stared down at Malfoy, his face slowly turning red with anger.

The majority of the class burst out laughing, most of the Slytherins either looking horrified or smothering their own laughter.

"We should go." George whispered into Anna's ear. She nodded, still covering her mouth, and began leading him back the way they'd come. The only difference was they stopped at the table Harry and Hermione were sitting at.

"You're welcome." Anna whispered between Harry and Hermione's shoulders. Hermione jumped slightly, but she was still giggling, and Harry glanced over his shoulder with a huge, laughing grin.

With their mission complete, Anna and George hurried out of the classroom and only took off the Cloak when they reached the dungeon Fred was waiting in. When he saw them, he stepped out of the room and grinned expectantly between them.

"Well?" he asked, "How'd it go?"

"Brilliantly."

XXX

"You going to Hogsmeade?" Anna asked curiously as she served herself some scrambled eggs at breakfast. It was the Saturday before the first task, and the first Hogsmeade trip of the year.

"Yeah, but I'm going under the Cloak." Harry answered dully. "For once, I'd like to go out and not be stared at like a freak or laughed at."

"Understandable. So, you're just going with Hermione, I'm guessing?"

Harry gave her a look. "Considering Ron's not exactly speaking to me? What do you think?"

"Hey, don't bite my head off. I'm one of the few people that believes you." Anna told him, putting her hands up to show she meant no harm.

Harry sighed. "Sorry. Just sick of it."

"Understandable."

"Hello, Annabelle."

Anna looked over her shoulder to see Oscar and a couple other Durmstrang boys. She smiled at him.

"Hi, Oscar. How are you doing?" she asked politely.

"I am very vell, thank you. Are you going into the…Hogsmeade village?" he asked curiously, pausing next to her. His friends paused, as well.

"Yeah, I'm heading down there with my friends."

"Ah. So I suppose it vould be foolish of me to hope you vould give me a tour, eh?" Oscar grinned charmingly.

"Um, yeah, unfortunately. My friends and I have been making plans for Hogsmeade for the past month or so. Sorry. But I'm sure you'll be fine without a tour guide. They've got enough signs down there a blind man could find where he was going." she joked, before realizing how stupid that sentence sounded.

But Oscar chuckled. "Of course. Vell, I vish you a good day, Annabelle. It vas lovely to see you again."

"Yeah, you too." Anna waved goodbye. She waited a few moments for them to walk away before turning back around and smacking her palm to her forehead. "Idiot." she muttered to herself.

"Are you referring to that comment about a blind man being able to see all the signs?" Harry asked with a small smirk.

"Shut up." Anna grumbled, her face bright red in embarrassment.

Harry was looking to one side, toward where Oscar and his friends were sitting at the Slytherin table. "Didn't the twins ask you to stay away from that guy?"

Anna glared lightly at him. "The twins don't control me. Oscar's a nice guy, and it's not like I'm going to date him. We just exchanged pleasantries. What's wrong with that?"

Harry shrugged and dropped the subject, taking another bite of his toast.

After breakfast, Anna met up with Fred, George, and Lee so they could head down to Hogsmeade together. They were about halfway down the path when someone called after them.

"Fred! George! Hey, wait up!"

They paused and looked over their shoulders to see Ron jogging back and forth between other students. He slowed down and matched their pace when he reached them.

"Fancy seeing you here, little brother." Fred commented dryly.

"What's the matter? All your other friends blow you off?" George teased.

Ever since Harry's name came out of the goblet, Ron had been spending much more time with the twins and their friends. Anna wasn't too thrilled with him, since he was blowing off his best friend, but she kept her nose out of it and just dealt with his company. Of course, that meant they couldn't discuss Bagman whenever he was around. They kept their joke shop talk to a minimum, but it wasn't as if they were keeping that a secret.

And with Ron ignoring Harry, Anna had been doing her part to help him with ideas for the first task. Since they didn't know anything about what the task involved, Anna was just advising Harry to study up on basic defensive spells.

"Shut up." Ron grumbled. "Anyway, what are you guys doing at Hogsmeade? What shops are you going to?"

"Zonko's, for one." George answered.

"Probably Honeydukes." Anna added.

"And then to The Three Broomsticks for some warm butterbeers." Fred finished with a satisfied smile.

"Great." Ron grinned, apparently assuming he would be joining them. Of course, Anna wasn't really mean enough to tell him to get lost.

They stopped in Zonko's first, and Fred and George hurried off to speak with the owner and ask him some business questions. Lee stocked up on fireworks and things while Anna looked around for things she might want to stock up on.

Ron was walking along the isles with her, but when she glanced at him she noticed he was watching the twins with a small frown.

"What are they asking him about?" he finally asked.

Anna glanced over her shoulder at the twins, who were talking animatedly with Mr. Zonko, who was listening intently with a smile. He'd always been encouraging toward their endeavors and had been helping them in any way he could since they first approached him with their plans.

"Just…joke shop stuff." Anna answered vaguely, giving a shrug and picking up a Nose-Biting Teacup. Her old one was getting a bit chipped.

"Are they really serious about opening a joke shop?" Ron asked.

Anna looked up at him. "What's wrong with it? I mean, it's something they're passionate about. And they're good at it. Why's it such a bad idea?"

Ron shrugged. "Didn't say it was a bad idea…I just didn't know they were that serious about it. I thought it was just a temporary thing."

Anna hummed and moved on to the next row. She didn't want to get dragged into a family matter.

The twins spent another ten minutes talking to Zonko before they bought a few things and they all left the shop.

"He was just giving us advice on pricing our products. Said not to price it too high, 'cause people may not want to pay that much, but we need to price it high enough we make a profit based on the cost and time spent making each product, too." Fred was telling Anna and Lee as the group headed down the street toward Honeydukes.

"Makes sense." Anna nodded slowly. "So, for the Ton-Tongue Toffees…I suppose it depends on whether we sell them individually. We could make them about…12 Sickles a pound or so?"

"Something like that." George nodded thoughtfully. "But we also need to take into account the amount of time spent making them and stuff. Maybe closer to 14 or 15 Sickles. And for the Canary Creams…maybe Eight Sickles?"

"We can figure out an exact price when we get back to the castle." Fred decided, holding the door to Honeydukes open so everyone could walk in ahead of him.

They spent about ten minutes there, each buying some sweets before they headed to The Three Broomsticks, where they sat at a table.

They continued talking about joke shop stuff, as well as homework and all kinds of random topics. After a while, Anna looked over and noticed Professor Moody and Hagrid standing next to a table. Shifting her head an inch to the side, Anna saw Hermione sitting alone at the table. A moment later, Moody and Hagrid left.

"I'll be right back." Anna told the table, interrupting their conversation before she stood up with her bag and butterbeer. She crossed the crowded pub and approached the table Hermione was sitting at.

"Hey." she greeted, moving to sit across from the younger girl. However, when she made to sit on the booth, she suddenly found herself lopsided, one side of her butt sitting higher than the other. "Whoa-" She toppled a bit and scooted over so her whole bum was firmly level on the booth. She paused for a moment while Hermione stared at her with wide eyes. "Um,…so, hi Hermione. I'm assuming I just sat on…an invisible person."

Hermione pursed her lips to keep from laughing, lifting a hand to cover her mouth.

"Yeah. Hi." Harry's voice was quiet near Anna's right side, and he sounded like he was amused, as well. "Thanks for not crushing me."

"Are you calling me fat?" Anna joked, a smile tugging at her lips. She kept her eyes on Hermione so as not to look crazy, as if she were talking to an imaginary friend.

"'Course not. Running around after the twins keeps you in shape." Harry joked quietly.

"You have no idea." Anna laughed, shaking her head. "So, anyway, what did Moody and Hagrid want?"

"Hagrid wants me to visit him at midnight tonight." Harry explained. "Wouldn't explain why."

"Hm. Sounds suspicious. But then again, it's Hagrid. He's not a threat to you." Anna admitted.

"Some of his 'pets' might be." Hermione pointed out warningly.

Anna grimaced. "Good luck, Harry. Tell me how that goes."

XXX

The next morning, Anna had a bit of a lie in, seeing as it was Sunday and she had no plans. However, as soon as she reached the bottom step of the girls' stairs, she was swarmed by redheads.

"Anna, what took you so long?" Fred demanded.

"Come on, we gotta go!" George exclaimed, grabbing her hand and dragging her across the common room with Ginny on their heels.

"Wait-what? What are you talking about? I didn't know we had any plans!" Anna told them, completely confused. What was going on?

"We've got a surprise." Ginny told her, jogging at Anna's side.

"Is it a Weasley surprise?" Anna asked, looking at all three of the Weasleys.

"That's a perfect way to describe it." Ginny told her with a smirk that rivaled the twins'.

Anna followed the three siblings out of the castle and across the Hogwarts grounds, George still dragging her along behind him.

When they walked past where the Durmstrang ship was docked in the lake, Anna caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a group of older boys preparing to go for a run. They were all wearing shorts and were shirtless, stretching out to prepare for their run. Among them, Anna caught sight of Oscar Markov. He looked up from where he'd been touching his toes and caught her eyes. He smiled and waved at her. Blushing, Anna smiled and waved in return.

"Who's that?" Ginny asked curiously as they continued past the ship.

"Oh, just a Durmstrang student I met a couple weeks back." Anna admitted.

"Who you aren't talking to, right?" Fred checked, glancing over his shoulder at her.

Anna blushed and looked at her feet, stuffing her hands into her jean pockets. "Well,…"

"Anna!" Fred and George snapped, turning their heads to glare at her.

"Oh, come on. We just said good morning a couple times. It's not like we're flirting or planning a date or something. Why are you guys getting all bent out of shape?" she whined.

"Is he cute?" Ginny asked curiously.

The twins glared again, but they kept their mouths shut, seeming just as curious about Anna's answer.

Feeling very uncomfortable, Anna shrugged her shoulders up to her ears. "Well-I, um…I don't know. Maybe he's attractive, but…I don't know, he's not my type." she stuttered.

"And what _is_ your type?" Ginny asked deviously, smirking as her eyes glanced pointedly to the two boys walking a few steps ahead of them.

Remembering their discussion on the walk to the Quidditch World Cup, Anna glared at the younger redhead while her cheeks turned a color similar to Ginny's hair. "I don't have one." she answered through gritted teeth. "You know, you'd get along with my cousin." she added more clearly. Her cousin, Tonks, frequently brought up the topic of boys.

"So you don't think Diggory is attractive, like all the other girls on our Quidditch team?" Fred asked suspiciously.

Anna shrugged. "I mean, I don't hate him like you two. He seems somewhat nice, but he kinda gets on my nerves. And I don't see what the big hype is in regards to his looks. He's not _that_ good-looking." Anna really wanted to change the subject, and then she noticed they were heading into the forest. "Um, where are we going?" she asked suspiciously, no longer thinking about their embarrassing conversation.

"Oh, our surprise is in here." George told her with a smirk, also appearing to forget about their conversation.

"Now I'm really scared." she muttered, only partially joking.

They walked a small distance through the trees. Then, Anna heard some strange noises. Growling, several voices…was that a roar?

Nervous, Anna continued walking after the twins, Ginny at her side.

Finally, they rounded a small group of trees and Anna's mouth fell open. There were a few large cages, giant dragons kept inside. Most of the dragons appeared to be sleeping or at ease, but one was pacing angrily in it's cage, snorting black smoke from it's nostrils.

"What…" Anna breathed in amazement. "Are we allowed to be here?" she whispered, grabbing Fred's arm and pulling him to a stop.

"Well, we're not supposed to get too close to the dragons, but we've got special permission to visit once in a while." he explained with a smirk.

"Why-" Anna cut off when she looked straight ahead. A small group of men, probably dragon trainers, were gathered around talking near the grumpy dragon's cage. One of them stood out to her. His skin almost looked as tan as his companions, but she noticed that was just due to his thousands of freckles. He also had familiar red hair that messily swept the top of his shoulders.

"Is that-?" Anna stepped forward, watching the redhead.

Then, one of the dragon trainers seemed to notice the four kids. He smacked the redhead's shoulder and nodded toward them. The redheaded man turned to look over his shoulder, a smile stretching across his cheeks.

Anna didn't realize a smile had stretched over her own face as she walked past Fred, George, and Ginny.

Charlie said something to his fellow dragon trainers before turning and heading toward Anna and his younger siblings.

"What are you doing here?" Anna practically squealed with excitement when they reached each other. She jumped into Charlie's arms and threw her own around his neck. He squeezed her in a tight, familiar hug, lifting her feet off the ground. He only responded when he let her feet hit the ground again.

"That should be at least somewhat obvious." he told her, sweeping his hand around to gesture to the set up behind him.

The smile slipped from Anna's face as her eyes moved back to the dragons.

"You mean,…for the tournament?" she asked worriedly, her voice quiet.

"Yeah, the first task." Charlie admitted, not smiling quite as wide before he hugged Ginny again.

"What is it? Do they have to fight dragons?" Anna asked worriedly.

"We're not completely sure. All we know is they asked us for nesting females. One for each champion." Charlie answered.

"But,…what do they…Do you know about Harry?" she finally asked, her eyes dragging from the giant, fire-breathing creatures to Charlie.

"Oh yeah." Charlie nodded, his brows in his hairline. "Yep, heard about it from the _Daily Prophet_ , some Ministry guy who came down to the sanctuary to tell us they needed four dragons instead of the original three, he told us the whole story, and Mum wrote to me. So, yeah I've heard _all_ about it."

"Harry's only fourteen." Anna mumbled. "How's he supposed to get past a nesting mother dragon?" she asked desperately.

Charlie shrugged. "Unfortunately, I can't exactly offer him much help."

Anna nodded in understanding, running her hand through her hair. "So,…when did you three find out about this?" she asked curiously, looking around at the other three Weasley kids.

"McGonagall got us Friday evening." Ginny answered. "She swore us to secrecy and brought us down here to see Charlie."

"What about Ron?" Anna asked in confusion, her brows furrowed together.

"Yeah, she brought him, too." Fred nodded.

"And he hasn't told Harry?" Anna asked in disbelief. "I mean, I know you guys were sworn to secrecy, and he's not happy with Harry, but is he so upset he's practically throwing Harry to an angry dragon?"

Charlie shrugged, his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm not sure about the whole story on that front. And I don't know what the champions have to do, exactly. But it's gotta be crazy if it involves nesting dragons. These dragons are extremely agitated at the moment, waking up in a new place with their eggs." he admitted, glancing over his shoulder at the cages. "Especially that Hungarian Horntail there. The one pacing in her cage. I pity whichever champion has to deal with her."

The pacing dragon, the Hungarian Horntail, had black scales and yellow eyes and looked like a lizard. It had bronze horns and spikes along it's tail that looked like a lethal weapon.

"Does anyone else know about this?" Anna asked curiously, waving her hand toward the dragons.

"Well, the only people who are _supposed_ to know are the people who set it up, you know, the Ministry and maybe Dumbledore. But I think the word got out just a little bit. Hagrid came by around midnight last night, had that Beauxbatons headmistress with him. I was a bit unsure about that, personally don't think he should've brought her along. She probably ran straight to her champion."

Anna nodded, a light bulb going off in her head. If Hagrid was here around midnight, maybe he was showing this to Harry. So maybe Harry did know what the first task was. She'd have to check with him. If he didn't know, she'd tell him herself.

"What kinds of dragons are there?" Anna asked curiously.

"Well, there's the Hungarian Horntail," Charlie pointed at the pacing dragon, "over there's the Common Welsh Green, back there's a Swedish Short-Snout, and finally there's the Chinese Fireball."

Anna nodded again, taking a deep breath as her eyes moved from one dragon to the next.

"So, anyway. Enough about that. I've got a good hour at the moment to relax. How about we hang out by the lake for a bit?" Charlie suggested with his old grin.

Anna and the other Weasley kids exchanged huge smiles before agreeing and spending the better part of the next hour splashing together in the shallows of the lake.


	22. The Yule Ball

Annabelle rushed off to find Harry as soon as she left Charlie and the others that afternoon. She wasn't that surprised to find that Hagrid had, indeed, lead Harry to see the dragons that night. Luckily, he also already had a plan to get past the dragon.

On Monday, the day before the first task, Anna and Hermione helped Harry practice using the Summing Charm in an empty classroom so he'd be able to summon his Firebolt during the task. Anna did her part to bring them lunch to nibble on, since they didn't want to leave the room to stop practicing. She also helped Harry practice so Hermione could have a break. They continued working on it until all three had to go to their classes, Harry to Divination, Hermione to Arithmancy, and Anna to Potions.

Tuesday the twenty-fourth arrived much quicker than they felt ready for. Harry got a letter from Sirius and Wren, wishing him luck. Lessons ended at midday to give students time to get down to the enclosure by the lake. McGonagall collected Harry from lunch to take him down early. The rest of the school headed down after they finished eating. Anna remained quiet, walking among her group of friends, who were talking animatedly among themselves. Everyone around her was laughing, joking, and talking excitedly about what they thought the task might be. All Anna felt was sick to her stomach.

They found a large tent by the lake and stands overlooking the enclosure. They followed the crowd up into the stands. Anna followed Fred down a row near the top to sit, Katie on her other side. Her mouth was dry and stomach churning. She didn't realize her leg was bouncing until Fred rested his hand on her knee.

"Calm down, Anna. He'll be fine." Fred assured her. "If he had you and Hermione helping him practice, he'll probably win the whole bloody tournament."

The twins knew Anna had been helping Harry practice, but they had no idea what Harry's plan was. They'd tried to badger the details out of Anna, but she resisted.

Anna grinned sheepishly. "I guess."

"Gee, thanks. I don't know if I should be grateful for that comment or not." Hermione's voice reached them over the rest of the crowd. Anna looked over to see Hermione leading Ginny, Ron, and Neville Longbottom down the row in front of them. Hermione sat in front of Fred so she could turn around and look up at them. Anna noticed she was slightly pale, probably worried about Harry like Anna herself was.

"You absolutely should." Fred told her with a wink. "I don't compliment people very often, especially little bookworms."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

It was hard to tell how long they had to wait as people continued into the stands. But finally, the task began. It was basically explained that each champion had to go up against a dragon and get a golden egg from among the dragon's other eggs. Anna didn't really register Bagman's commentary. All she knew was what she saw and the basic sounds she heard. Everything else was a low hum in her ears.

There was a sharp whistle, and then Cedric Diggory came out into the enclosure first to face the Swedish Short-Snout. Cedric's tactic was to transfigure a rock into a Labrador. The dragon went after the dog, but then changed it's mind and went after Cedric. He barely got away from the dragon, getting burned in the face by a blast of fire, but he still managed to get the egg.

Fleur Delacour was second and faced off against the Welsh Green. Fleur appeared to have put some kind of charm on the dragon, causing it to get sleepy. Unfortunately, it snored, causing a jet of flame to shoot from it's nose and catch Fleur's skirt on fire. Anna smiled feebly only because Fred and George burst out laughing. Fleur put the fire out with water from her wand and grabbed the golden egg.

Third was Viktor Krum against the Chinese Fireball. He took a more brutal approach, which Anna should've seen coming. He hit the dragon in the eye with some kind of spell. The dragon, clearly in pain, trampled around and crushed half her real eggs. Anna, probably one of the few in the audience, actually felt sympathy for the dragon. After all, half her babies were now dead. Luckily, Krum had points taken off for that, though she wanted to curse Karkaroff for still giving Krum a perfect 10. As if that wasn't favoritism at it's worst.

Finally, it was Harry's turn against, to Anna's horror, the Hungarian Horntail. She scooted closer and sat on the edge of her seat. Harry walked out onto the enclosure, the Horntail on the opposite side, crouched low over her eggs. Her spiked tail was thrashing and leaving deep gouges in the rocky ground. Harry raised his wand high into the air, and a hush fell over the crowd. Anna barely heard him yell the words, " _Accio Firebolt!_ ", though she suspected that was only because she knew what he was saying.

It was silent for a moment before suddenly his Firbolt zoomed across the grounds and came to a stop at Harry's side, waiting for him to mount.

The crowd erupted as Harry flew up into the air, and then dove. He pulled out of the dive just as the dragon shot fire at him. He flew up higher and started flying in circles. The dragon continued watching him, it's head revolving on it's long neck. Harry plummeted as the dragon opened it's mouth again. Harry missed the flames, but the dragon's tail swung up. Harry swerved to the left, but it appeared one long spike grazed his shoulder, ripping his robes.

Anna clapped her hand over her mouth and she heard Hermione give a shriek while the rest of the crowd screamed or groaned.

Harry started flying back and forth, not too close but close enough that the dragon kept her eye on him. He flew a bit higher and the dragon's head rose with him, her neck stretching to it's fullest extent. He rose higher yet and the dragon roared with what appeared to be exasperation. Her tail thrashed up, but Harry was too high for her to reach. She shot fire at him, which he managed to dodge again. Then, the dragon reared up, spreading it's enormous wings.

This appeared to be what Harry was waiting for. He dove toward the ground with lightning speed towards the eggs. Anna stood up with the rest of the crowd to watch more closely. Harry took his hands off his broom, grabbed the golden egg, and bolted back up and over the stands, his egg clutched safely under his arm.

The crowd erupted in screams and applause. Anna leapt up, her hands in the air as she cheered, Fred and Katie doing the same on either side of her.

"Look at that!" Bagman was screaming over the crowd. "Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get to his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!"

Anna stood on her tiptoes when she saw dragon trainers rushing onto the enclosure to subdue the Horntail. She barely caught a glimpse of Charlie before her eyes moved to the other end of the enclosure. McGonagall, Moody, and Hagrid had hurried into the enclosure toward Harry, who had flown back over the stands and came to a smooth landing. They lead him from the enclosure and into a second tent, which Anna had seen Cedric being lead into with Madam Pomfrey. He would probably have his arm treated in there.

"Now, we'll just wait for Mr. Potter to be treated before we reveal his score, to give the judges time to write down their scores." Bagman announced to the crowd.

Ron, who Anna noticed looked very pale, stood up and hurried out of the stands. Hermione quickly followed him, probably to check on Harry.

"Merlin, if he doesn't get first place, this thing's rigged." Fred commented as they all sat down again.

"It may as well be." Katie leaned forward to speak to Anna and the twins past her. "Did you see what score Karkaroff gave Krum?"

"Right?" Anna agreed. "There's no way he deserved a perfect ten for that performance. Maybe a five at most, since he got the egg. But he was horrible."

After a while, Harry walked back out onto the enclosure and the judges gave their scores.

Maxime gave him an 8, Crouch a 9, Dumbledore a 9, Bagman a 10, and Karkaroff a 4.

"Four?" Anna deadpanned at Karkaroff's score. "A bloody _four_? That performance put them all to shame, you scumbag."

"He's just a sore loser." Fred assured her.

"Yeah, and besides, Harry and Krum are tied for first place. That's good, right?" George pointed out. "Considering no one thought Harry'd even survive this tournament. Bet they're all eating their words, now."

Anna smiled, silently admitting they were right.

It was announced that the next task was at 9:30 in the morning on February 24th, and then they were sent back up to the castle.

Anna hurried to the tent first, wanting to congratulate her godbrother. She was pleased to see Harry leave the area with Hermione _and_ Ron. Clearly, they were best friends again.

XXX

Anna, Fred, and George got to spend most of Tuesday afternoon with Charlie at the tent he was staying in while at Hogwarts. He would be leaving early the next morning, so they wanted to get in as much time hanging out with him as they could.

"So, come on. What've you three been up to?" Charlie asked, leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head. "I know you two haven't been studying, given your number of OWLs last year." he added teasingly to Fred and George.

"Oh, you know, just typical stuff." Fred shrugged.

"Pranking,"

"relaxing,"

"working on our joke shop."

Anna grinned, shaking her head when the twins finished their little back-and-forth talking.

Charlie's eyes switched to Anna, his own smile still present. "What about you, Anna? You in on their little schemes?"

"Who, me?" she asked innocently, making the three boys laugh. She dropped her façade and grinned. "Maybe a little."

"I figured as much." Charlie nodded with his brows raised. "Anything else going on with you? Any boyfriends I should be aware of?"

Anna's smile faltered when she noticed Fred's expression change from carefree to angry. Looking Charlie in the eye, she answered honestly, "Nope. You got a girlfriend yet?"

Charlie smirked. "That answer isn't for innocent ears." Anna scrunched up her nose in disgust while Charlie glanced at the twins. "Anyway, what do you lot think of the other schools? Meet anyone interesting?"

"Anna made a new friend from _Durmstrang_." Fred pointed out grumpily.

"He's not a friend." Anna snapped while Charlie turned back to her with his brows in his hairline. "He's an acquaintance. I hardly know him."

"That's how things start." George pointed out carefully.

" _Nothing is going to happen!_ " Anna shouted in frustration. "Why are you guys obsessing over this? You don't have a problem with me being friends with other guys like Lee or Harry or…Oliver or Remus." she listed.

"Technically, none of those are the same." George pointed out hesitantly. "We know Lee, Harry's your godbrother, Oliver was too obsessed with Quidditch to know what girls are, and Professor Lupin is your dad's best friend, practically your uncle or something."

"Oh, so you just don't like this guy 'cause he's a Durmstrang." Anna summed up.

"Well, that's part of it." Fred exclaimed. "I mean, Durmstrang's teaching puts an emphasis on the Dark Arts. Their Headmaster is a former Death Eater. And we know nothing about this guy."

"Yeah, and he knows nothing about me, but he talks to me. We've spoken all of three times."

"Yeah, well…you don't know what he might want from you." Fred pointed out, seeming to struggle a bit with reasons.

Anna's hands lifted a bit as she stared at him in confusion. "What's that supposed to even mean? I helped him find his Herbology class, it could've been anyone. Do you think he's targeting me or something?"

"I don't know. But he's a big guy. I just think you should be careful." Fred insisted.

"What-you think he's going to randomly attack me or something?" Anna asked in disbelief.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time. And you aren't exactly great at defending yourself." Fred mumbled, glaring at her.

Anna froze, her eyes going wide.

"Are you seriously bringing Flint into this?" she asked slowly, her voice low and emotionless.

George and Charlie both winced, looking at their brother and waiting to see how he would dig himself out of this one.

Fred was now looking down sheepishly at his feet.

"I didn't mean-"

"Like hell you didn't." Anna snapped. "Is that the problem with you two?" she asked, looking between Fred and George. "I was raped one time before, so you think every guy that looks at me must want the same thing? And that I can't defend myself _if_ a guy attacks me again?"

George lifted his hands. "Don't look at me. I'm not the one blowing this out of proportion. I may not like you talking to the guy, but I'm not yelling at you or anything."

Anna's glare shifted back over to Fred.

"I'm sorry." Fred mumbled. "I just…I don't want you to get hurt again, okay?"

Anna struggled to keep her glare firm for a moment before dropping her eyes to the ground. "I think I'm gunna to get going." she mumbled, standing up. "I've got homework to do."

That was a lie, she'd finished her homework the day before.

"Alright. Well, keep me posted on everything, okay?" Charlie requested, standing up and opening his arms for a hug. "And I mean everything. Even if it's a little detail, like Ginny getting a boyfriend. _Especially_ Ginny getting a boyfriend."

Anna rolled her eyes with a small smirk, giving Charlie a tight hug. "I will. When do you think I'll see you again?"

"Hard to say." Charlie admitted, his arms still wrapped around her. "I don't have any plans to visit home for a while. But I'm just an owl away if you need me."

Anna nodded, then pulled away and left without another word.

Charlie and George watched her leave out the tent flap for a few moments before they both turned to look at Fred, who was staring at his hands in his lap.

"So, wanna tell us what that was about?" Charlie asked, leaning his elbows on his knees.

Fred shifted uncomfortably. "I just really don't trust the guy she's talking to."

"Well,…Freddie, she's made it obvious she's only spoken to him a few times." George pointed out gently. "That doesn't have to mean they like each other."

"I've seen how he looks at her." Fred snapped. " _He_ likes her."

"Who cares if he likes her?" Charlie asked. "That doesn't mean she'll go out with him. And even if she did, you acting like a prat is only going to push her away from you."

"Why don't you tell us what this is really about?" George suggested with a small smirk.

Fred looked up and eyed his twin suspiciously. "What do you mean? I just want to protect her."

"No. _I_ want to protect her." George countered with his smirk still in place. "This whole thing you're doing isn't being protective. You're _jealous_."

Charlie was now smirking as well, while Fred glared between them.

"That doesn't even make sense. What would I be jealous of?"

"Oh, come off it." George laughed. "I noticed it way back last year. You're smitten, little Freddie."

"What?" Fred asked, completely confused.

"I think he needs us to spell it out for him." Charlie told George before turning back to Fred. "You _fancy_ Annabelle."

"I _what_?" Fred's voice broke on the second word, making it come out as a squeak.

"You fancy her!" George and Charlie shouted together, laughing at Fred's reaction.

"I do not!" Fred denied.

"Oh, don't even try to deny it." George told him. "I know you better than you know yourself. You've fancied Anna for a while now."

"What makes you think that?" Fred asked tensely, his ears and cheeks turning red.

"Where do I start?" George retorted sarcastically, "How about during the Quidditch World Cup? You sharing your bed with her, and comforting her with everything that happened. Last year when she stumbled on the train on the way home? I saw your reaction when her face stopped inches from yours." he teased. "And all the little gestures, like you putting your arm around her when she's cold or scared. Staring at her when you think no one's watching. Lee told me you were helping her with her boggart last year while I was dealing with mine."

"How is any of that different from how you treat her?" Fred asked tensely, his cheeks and ears still red.

"Because I view Anna like another Ginny. Yeah, I'm protective of her, she's my best friend. She's almost like another you to me. But I can tell you see her just slightly differently." George explained.

Charlie and George sat silently, watching as Fred pondered their words. His eyes shifted as he thought, his cheeks turned redder for a moment before the blush diminished just slightly, and his lips twitched occasionally with tiny smiles. Finally, he looked up and glanced between them.

"Alright, fine." he spoke quietly. "Yeah…I fancy her."

George beamed. "I knew it!"

Fred rolled his eyes, but the smallest of grins tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Charlie asked, cocking one eyebrow.

"What do you mean? What is there to do?"

George rolled his eyes dramatically. "And to think, you claim to be the smarter twin. He means, when are you going to ask her out?"

"I'm not going to." Fred answered as if it were obvious.

"Why not?" George asked, genuinely confused.

"She's my best friend. She's _our_ best friend." he added, gesturing to himself, George, and Charlie. "If we tried dating and it ended badly,…it'd be awkward. She'd probably be scared of you guys ditching her and siding with me if we broke up. She'd be alone. Our families are close, we have the same friends…it would just be a bad idea."

"Who says you'd break up?" Charlie asked rhetorically. "You guys are best friends. When you're not being a prat about her talking to other guys, you two get along. George even said, he views her almost like another you. If you care about Anna as much as that, there's no logical reason a relationship couldn't work between you two."

Fred was still shaking his head. "I just can't risk it, alright. I can't risk losing one of my best friends."

"Where's that legendary Gryffindor courage you're supposed to have loads of?" George asked rhetorically. "You're a Weasley twin. You're brave, daring. You don't run away from your best friend."

Fred glared lightly at George. "I'm not running away from Anna. I'll always be there for her. I don't have to date her to do that."

XXX

After leaving Charlie's tent, Anna headed up to Gryffindor Tower to hang out in the common room with Katie, who hadn't quite finished all her homework. And with her being a fifth year now, she had a lot of work to make up for.

"I don't know how you didn't have a nervous breakdown your fifth year." Katie was complaining to Anna from around her stack of textbooks. It was also difficult for her to focus on her work, because several people were setting up decorations and things to celebrate Harry making it through the first task.

A couple hours later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally came into the common room to an explosion of cheers. There were enormous cakes and flagons of pumpkin juice and butterbeer on every flat surface. Katie had long since given up on trying to finish her homework for the night.

The air was thick with stars and sparks from Lee's Filibuster Fireworks he'd set off. Dean Thomas, who was apparently good at drawing, had made banners of Harry flying around the Horntail's head on his broom. Funnily, there were also a couple of Cedric with his head on fire.

"Hey." Harry grinned as he made his way through the crowd to sit next to Anna, Ron and Hermione following along behind him.

"Hey. Where'd you three disappear to?" Anna asked curiously, pulling her feet up under herself on the couch.

"The owlry. I wrote to Wren and Sirius to tell them how the first task went." Harry explained with a big grin.

"I'm sure my dad'll get a kick out of it." Anna said with a grin. "I hope you gave him lots of details, or else he'll badger you for them in his next letter."

"Oh, I gave every detail I could remember." Harry assured her, eyebrows high up under his messy, black hair.

Anna laughed. "Well, I won't monopolize your time. Go hang out with your other friends."

Harry gave her a high five before wandering off to sit with some others.

Anna turned back to her previous conversation with Katie, Alicia, and Angelina about Angelina's younger brother, who'd just started Hogwarts that year. Anna was also mentioning her cousin, Audra, would be starting at Hogwarts the following year.

Someone cleared their throat and Anna turned to look over her shoulder. Fred was standing there, looking only slightly sheepish, and he was holding a mug of butterbeer in each hand. When she met his eyes, he held one out to her.

"Peace offering?" he asked quietly.

Anna surveyed him for a moment. "Why?" she asked.

Fred sighed. "Because I was a prat earlier. And I promise, I'll try not to act like that anymore. I'll give you my last chocolate frog." he added temptingly, playing on Anna's love of chocolate.

Anna sighed. "Oh…I suppose I can forgive you. This time." she admitted, mostly joking as she took the cup from him. He grinned in relief and sat on the couch next to her, his arm resting on the back of the couch behind Anna's head.

Anna took a sip of her drink only to realize Katie, Alicia, and Angelina were looking between them curiously.

"What?"

"Do we want to know what that was about?" Alicia asked, glancing between the pair.

Anna turned to look up at Fred, who looked down at her at the same moment. After a second, Fred looked back at the other girls.

"Nothing much. I was just being a bit of an overprotective prat earlier." he admitted vaguely.

"Yeah, go on, Harry, open it!" several people started shouting. Anna and Fred turned to look across the common room, where Harry was sitting with Hermione, Ron, Lee, and several others. Lee had just passed the golden egg to Harry, who dug his fingers into the groove that ran around the egg and pried it open.

The egg was hollow and empty, but when it opened it released a loud, awful wailing.

Fred's hand bumped Anna's head when he slammed his hands over his ears. "Shut it!" he bellowed while Anna placed her mug in her lap and covered her own ears. Fred's mug had toppled to the floor and spilled.

Harry slammed the egg shut and silence fell over the room. Anna slowly lowered her hands from her ears.

"What was that?" Seamus Finnigan asked, staring at the egg. "Sounded like a banshee…Maybe you've got to get past one of those next, Harry!"

Neville, who had gone white and spilled his sausage rolls on the floor, spoke up, "You're going to have to fight the Cruciatus Curse!"

"Don't be a prat, Neville, that's illegal." George pointed out as Harry carried the egg over to the couches, where Anna and Fred were sitting. "They wouldn't use the Cruciatus Curse on the champions. I though it sounded a bit like Percy singing…maybe you've got to attack him while he's in the shower, Harry."

Anna snorted while Hermione sat on the couch on Fred's other side.

"Want a jam tart, Hermione?" Fred offered, picking up a plate full of said treats and holding it toward her. When Hermione looked doubtfully at the plate, Fred grinned. "It's alright. I haven't done anything to them. It's the custard creams you've got to watch-"

Neville, who had just bitten into a custard cream, instantly choked and spat it back out. Fred laughed.

"Just my little joke, Neville…"

Hermione took a jam tart off the plate. "Did you get all this from the kitchens, Fred?"

"Yep." Fred grinned before speaking in a squeaky voice that sounded just like a house-elf. "'Anything we can get you, sir, anything at all!' They're dead helpful…get me a roast ox if I said I was peckish."

"How do you get in there?" Hermione asked in a tone that Anna instantly thought was _too_ innocent.

"Easy, concealed door behind a painting of a bowl of fruit. Just tickle the pear, and it giggles and-" Fred suddenly stopped and looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"Nothing." Hermione said quickly.

"Going to try and lead the house-elves out on strike now, are you? Going to give up all the leaflet stuff and try and stir them up into rebellion?" George guessed, sitting on the arm of the couch next to her. Several people chuckled, and Hermione remained silent.

"Don't you go upsetting them and telling them they've got to take clothes and salaries!" Fred warned her. "You'll put them off their cooking!"

Before the conversation could continue, Neville randomly turned into a large canary.

"Oh-sorry, Neville!" Fred called over the roars of laughter. "I forgot-it _was_ the custard creams we hexed-"

Anna smirked, knowing his all-too-innocent tone suggested he hadn't forgotten a thing.

Within a minute, Neville molted, his yellow feathers falling to the floor and leaving him normal-looking. He soon joined in on the laughter.

"Canary Creams!" Fred shouted to the excited crowd, standing up from the couch. "George and I invented them-" Anna jabbed his back with her finger. "Oh, and Anna helped. Seven Sickles each, a bargain!"

A crowd soon surrounded Fred and George, who had pulled out a small paper bag of the Canary Creams, and began passing the twins money for one.

With all the celebrating from the first task and the Canary Creams, the party lasted until nearly one in the morning before the prefects started herding people toward their rooms.

XXX

November soon turned into December, which brought icy winds and sleet to Hogwarts castle. It was a bit drafty, but with many fires and thick, brick walls; the castle seemed much more cozy than the Durmstrang ship, which could be seen pitching and bouncing in the high winds. Of course, hearing some of the Beauxbatons girls whining, you'd think they were on a glacier.

Near the start of December, Anna left the twins making more Canary Creams in their room to get food from the kitchens for a snack break. When she entered the kitchens, she was swarmed by little house-elves as usual.

"Ms. Black! Ms. Black!" they squeaked, all bouncing around excitedly. "What can we do for you, Ms. Black?" one of them asked over the others.

"Well, I was just hoping for some snacks for me and my friends, if that's okay?" she asked kindly.

"Of course, Ms. Black!" one of them squeaked before they all scurried off in different direction.

"Would you like any drinks with that, as well?" one house-elf asked, having not hurried off yet.

"Um,…" Anna thought, but she was distracted as she looked down at this particular elf. He wasn't swearing the typical house-elf outfit of a tea towel with the Hogwarts crest like the others. He was wearing colorful, mismatched socks, a jumper, and a pair of shorts. "What's your name?" she found herself asking curiously.

The little elf beamed at her. "I is Dobby, miss. I just started working here last week."

Anna stared at him with wide eyes, her mouth hanging open. "Dobby? As in…I mean, do you know Harry? Harry Potter?"

Dobby's face lit up like a Christmas tree, his big, green eyes going glassy.

"Oh, yes, miss! Harry Potter is Dobby's very good friend, he is! He set Dobby free! I is so hoping to see him, because I know he is at Hogwarts!" Dobby rambled, clasping his hands together eagerly.

"I'm friends with Harry, too. Next time I see him, I could let him know you're here, if you want." she suggested as a few other elves arrived, each with a different kind of food.

"Oh, thank you very much, miss! I would very much like that, miss!" Dobby beamed, tears spilling from his eyes.

One of the house-elves looked at Dobby with mild disdain as he stepped around him, holding a small bag they'd put the food in toward her. "Here is your food, Ms. Black. Would you care for a flagon of pumpkin juice, as well?"

"Yes, please." Anna smiled and soon a flagon of juice was pushed into her other hand. Smiling at the elves, she said thank you and pushed her way back out of the kitchens.

Just as she was leaving, she nearly ran into Hermione, who had been right in front of the entrance and looked like she was about to go inside.

"Oh, hi Hermione." Anna smiled as the painting swung shut behind her. "Looking for the kitchens?" she guessed with a smirk.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

"Well, you obviously know where it is and how to get in. Hey, if you go in there, you'll meet someone who knows Harry. I'm currently busy, so, if you could, you should reunite Harry with his friend."

Hermione looked curiously between Anna and the door. "Okay, that's no problem. You just tickle the pear, right?"

"Yep. See you around, Hermione." Anna called as she hurried down the corridor. She needed to get back to the twins so they could continue with their work.

XXX

That Thursday evening, McGonagall asked all students fifth year and up to stay behind after dinner for an announcement. Everyone was curious, but she wouldn't speak until the younger students had left and all the food was cleared from the plates.

All curious chatter fell silent when the Transfiguration teacher stood up and moved around the staff table to stand in front of them all.

"I've asked you all to stay behind because I have an announcement. All third and fourth year students have already been informed, but I haven't had any of you in class today.

"Another tradition of the Triwizard Tournament is the Yule Ball. This is for fourth year students and above, though you can ask a third year if you'd like. This is a chance for us to all socialize with our foreign guests.

"As most of you probably noticed, dress robes were added to your school lists this year. Dress robes are required at the Yule Ball, which begins at 8:00 at night on Christmas Day in the Great Hall and ends at midnight."

Several people, mostly girls, had turned to whisper to their friends, a few people giggling. Anna rolled her eyes. The thought of dressing up for a ball wasn't exactly appealing. She'd prefer hanging out with her friends in loose, comfy clothes and drinking hot chocolate.

McGonagall waited sternly for everyone to stop speaking before she continued. "As excited as I'm sure many of you are, I will be very displeased if I hear that any Hogwarts student, especially from my own House," she added with a stern glare at the Gryffindor table, "embarrasses this school in any way. There will be severe punishment for such situations. Are there any questions?"

No one seemed to have any questions, as it remained quiet. A few people looked around, but it was a pretty straightforward announcement.

"Good. If you do, you can approach your Head of House or myself at another time. You may all be dismissed to your common rooms." McGonagall finished.

People erupted in chatter once more as they stood up, the sound of scraping chairs echoing in the Great Hall.

"This is so exciting!" Alicia was squealing with Angelina and Katie. "Who do you hope asks you?" she asked the other girls curiously.

Anna looked at the other two girls. Angelina said she didn't really care, but Katie glanced almost unnoticeably past Anna. When Anna looked over her shoulder, all she saw was Fred, George, and Lee talking among themselves.

Anna smirked at the younger Chaser.

"Anyone in particular, Katie?" she asked slyly.

Katie blushed. "No." she answered defiantly.

Alicia and Angelina smirked.

"You sure about that?" Ang asked.

Katie glanced around before mumbling something.

"What was that?" Anna asked with a wider smirk.

Katie sighed and the other girls leaned in close as they walked into the entrance hall.

"I said…George is kinda cute." she mumbled.

The other three girls giggled loudly, making Lee, Fred, and George look at them curiously. They smiled innocently at them before turning back to a blushing Katie.

"You want him to ask you?" Anna asked quietly.

Katie shrugged. "If he did, I wouldn't mind. If he doesn't, it's not like I'd be devastated. I don't really fancy him…he's just really nice and funny…and it's not like he's hard on the eyes."

Anna's grin softened. "Can you tell him apart from Fred?" she asked carefully. Katie was one of her best friends apart from the twins. She'd never really thought about anyone dating Fred or George, but she would prefer it be someone who could tell the twins apart and actually like one differently than the other. She didn't want someone to just date one of the twins and think of them as interchangeable.

"Of course." Katie answered as if it were obvious. "I mean, Fred's great, don't get me wrong. But George…he's sweeter, in a way. Kinder. I don't know, I just feel like I'd maybe trust him more readily than I'd trust Fred." she ended with a slightly guilty smile.

The other girls laughed.

"Oh, don't worry, I agree. Fred can be, uh,…harsh. He means well, but he's more in your face." Anna agreed.

"What are you ladies talking about?" Fred asked curiously as the boys caught up with them, throwing his arm over Anna's shoulders.

"Oh, just this Yule Ball nonsense." Anna told him casually.

"Nonsense?" George repeated dramatically. "You mean you don't want to go to the ball and have your prince charming sweep you off your feet?"

Anna rolled her eyes, not noticing Fred sending his twin a warning glare. "I don't exactly enjoy dressing up. I prefer comfort to fashion."

"So you aren't going?" Lee asked.

"I'll probably go, my mum would want me to. I'll just…I don't know. Maybe go with a friend or in a group." Anna shrugged, once again missing the pointed look George sent his twin.

They continued talking about the ball until they reached the common room. Anna saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione sitting apart from everyone in the corner. Breaking away from her friends, she headed toward them.

"Hey." Harry sat up when she reached them. "What'd McGonagall want?"

"Just wanted to tell us about this stupid Yule Ball." Anna sighed, plopping down in a chair next to Hermione.

"Ah. Yeah, we heard about it in Transfiguration class today." Ron nodded.

"Yeah, and you wanna know the worst of it?" Harry grumbled, resting his cheek on his fist. Anna gave him a curious look. "The champions have to open the ball. We have to get dance partners and dance in front of everyone." he whined.

Anna smiled sympathetically. "Oh, come on. That won't be too bad. You're the Boy-Who-Lived. Everyone loves you. You could probably ask just about any girl in this school and they'd say yes."

"Yeah, well, I'd rather fight another dragon." Harry stated seriously.

Anna grinned, forcing herself not to laugh. "I'm sure you'll be fine."

XXX

When McGonagall went around with the sign-up sheet for who was staying at Hogwarts for Christmas, Anna thought it seemed like everyone fourth year and above was staying for the holidays. She, like Harry, would've personally preferred to go home and spend Christmas with her mum and dad. It was her dad's first Christmas as a free man, and her and Harry had been looking forward to being at the cottage with Sirius and Wren. Unfortunately, Harry was required to open the ball, and Wren specifically wrote a letter to Anna insisting she go to the ball and take lots of pictures.

Girls especially seemed to be excited as December progressed. They were always huddled in groups, giggling and whispering together, sometimes shrieking with laughter when boys walked past, and comparing notes on their dresses. Anna tried to stay out of this, but she couldn't help sometimes being pulled into the excitement. Especially when, thanks to some careful hinting on her part, George asked Katie to the Yule Ball. Of course, they were just going as friends, but Katie liked George, and Anna was sure George at least somewhat liked Katie.

Anna wasn't sure what she was going to do about the ball. Obviously, she wasn't the type to just go up and ask a guy herself. And there wasn't anyone she fancied. However, she figured Fred, or even Lee or Harry, would ask her. It would make sense, and it would be easy for everyone involved. That way they could all go as a group of friends, and it would be even more fun.

As the last week of term neared, rumors about the ball were flying like out-of-control Bludgers, half of them most likely false. However, one that seemed true was that Dumbledore booked the Weird Sisters for the music.

Some teachers gave up trying to teach the last couple days, seeing as it was next to impossible trying to teach students who aren't paying attention. Flitwick let them play games in Charms. But Binns, McGonagall, Moody, and Snape refused to be lenient.

On the last day of classes, the sixth year Charms class was sitting around in the corridor waiting for Flitwick to arrive. Fred and George were sitting against the wall, bent over a parchment where they were figuring out some charm work on one of their potential products.

Fred glanced up. Anna was sitting in a windowsill across the corridor from him. George had been nagging him about asking her to the ball, just as friends. Normally, he wouldn't be nervous about something as simple as asking a girl to a ball. But this was Anna. His best friend. The girl he cared about more than just about anyone else. Who he had a _crush_ on. He just couldn't think about how to do it casually without making it awkward or his crush painfully obvious.

Just as Fred was looking back down at his parchment, he saw something red with fur moving in the corridor from the corner of his eye. Looking up again, he saw that Durmstrang guy, Markov, who'd been talking to Anna lately.

Oscar Markov paused to talk to Anna, who looked up from the book she'd been reading. She smiled that kind, welcoming smile Fred always liked about her. He couldn't hear what they were saying, because they were talking quietly. Markov said something in his deep, rumbling voice, and Anna blushed. She nodded and said something in return. They talked for a few more moments before Markov said goodbye and walked off.

Fred was fuming. He didn't realize, or care, that he crushed his quill in his fist.

"Did you see what I just saw?" George whispered, having also seen the interaction.

"Yep." Fred spoke through gritted teeth.

"What do you think about it?" George asked hesitantly.

"I think that prat just asked Anna to the ball, and she said yes."

 **XXX**

 **Everyone be patient with me! The next few chapters are going to have some normal teenage drama, but I'm hoping everyone likes how it all turns out!**

 **Thank you all for reading my story and please make sure to review to let me know what you all thought of this chapter!**


	23. Finding Dates

"Now, I want you to send this to Nymphadora Tonks." Anna held the envelope out to Ariel, who was perched on her forearm. The owl took the letter in her beak, nuzzled Anna's cheek, gave her wings a hard flap, and flew out the window of the owlry. Anna watched her fly away for a few moments before crossing the straw-covered floor to the doorway, heading back to Gryffindor Tower.

She was halfway up the stairs between floors six and seven when she heard the quick patter of two sets of feet. Looking up, Anna paused when she saw Fred and George running down the stairs toward her.

"Anna!" George called when he saw her. "Can we borrow Ariel?"

"I just sent her off to Tonks'." she told them as they stopped in front of her.

"Dang it." Fred grumbled.

"Another letter for Bagman?" she asked knowingly.

"Maybe." they answered.

Anna held her hand out expectantly. "Let me read it." she told Fred firmly, seeing the letter in his hand.

Fred rolled his eyes, but released the letter into her hand.

Anna unfolded the parchment and read over the letter.

' _Mr. Bagman,_

 _We know you must be very busy with work and the tournament, but we must insist you pay the money we won in that bet. If you'd like, we would like to meet with you in person and discuss this. Maybe we could work something out. Please get back to us as soon as you can._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Fred and George Weasley'_

Anna blinked in mild surprise. "Huh. That's actually…really sensible." she admitted, lowering the parchment to look between them.

George raised a finger. "That was all me. Fred really wants to blackmail the bloke."

Fred rolled his eyes. "I want our money. If blackmailing is what it takes for this prat to cough it up, I don't see a problem."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Well, unfortunately, I just sent Ariel off."

Fred snapped his fingers as George took the letter back. "Oh well. Let's go ask Ron if we can borrow Pigwidgeon." Fred suggested.

They turned around and Anna followed them up to the Fat Lady's portrait. In the common room, they found Ron sitting with Harry and Hermione. Ron was building a card castle with a deck of Exploding Snap cards. Just as they were approaching them, the whole castle exploded, singeing Ron's eyebrows.

"Nice look, Ron…go well with your dress robes, that will." Fred commented as him, George, and Anna sat at the table across from the younger trio. Hermione appeared to be taking notes and Harry was reading _Flying with the Cannons_. Ron felt his eyebrows for the damage.

"Ron, can we borrow Pigwidgeon?" George asked.

"No, he's off delivering a letter. Why?"

"Because George wants to invite him to the ball." Fred answered sarcastically.

"Because _we_ want to send a letter, you stupid great prat." George told him.

"Who d'you two keep writing to, eh?" Ron demanded.

"Nose out, Ron, or I'll burn that for you too." Fred threatened, waving his wand at Ron's face. "So…you lot got dates for the ball yet?"

"Nope." Ron answered dully.

"Well, you'd better hurry up, mate, or all the good ones will be gone." Fred told them, making George think of him as a hypocrite.

"Who're you going with then?"

Fred thought for only a second, his thoughts flying as fast as Harry's Firebolt. He couldn't ask Anna here and now. He was convinced Markov had asked her in the corridor that day, even though George pointed out they didn't know that for sure. He'd been considering asking Anna anyway, despite the potential blow to his pride if she said no, but he certainly wasn't willing to take a blow like that in front of his little brother.

"Angelina."

Ron was taken aback, and he wasn't the only one. George's head snapped around and he stared at his twin in shock. Anna, on the other hand, slowly turned to stare at Fred, the shock seeping in as slow as sap. This was certainly news to her.

"What? You've already asked her?" Ron asked in bewilderment.

"Good point." Fred turned his head and called across the common room. "Oi! Angelina!"

Anna turned her head in the same direction, to where Ang was chatting with Alicia near the fire. She turned to look at him.

"What?"

"Want to come to the ball with me?"

Ang looked at Anna in mild surprise before looking Fred over with an appraising kind of expression. "Alright, then." With that, she turned back to talk with Alicia with a small grin.

Fred turned back to Harry and Ron, who were gaping slightly at him. "There you go, piece of cake…"

Anna stood up and walked slowly, as if on autopilot, toward the portrait hole. She heard a couple voices call her name, but she clambered out the entrance and just walked down the corridor. She didn't even notice how quickly she was walking, but she was moving at a jog, skipping steps when she went down the staircase to the sixth floor.

She wasn't sure why she was upset, or why anger was bubbling up inside her. After all, it wasn't as if they'd decided to go together. After some thinking, Anna decided she was just upset because she'd figured they'd all go as a group. But George had already asked Katie, Lee had asked Alicia the day before, and now Fred had asked Angelina. All her friends were going together. But who would she go with? They were all taken, and she was running out of time to get a date. And if she didn't go, her mother would never let her live it down.

A hand gently touched Anna's shoulder, causing her to nearly leap out of her skin. Turning around, Anna found herself face to face with Oscar Markov.

"I called your name a few times. Are you alright?" he asked, dropping his hand back to his side.

"Oh, yes, I'm okay." Anna told him, crossing her arms over her stomach. "I'm just a bit…distracted at the moment. Sorry."

"Do not vorry, you seemed to have a lot on your mind." he assured her. "I vas looking for you, actually."

"Oh?"

"Yes. I vas hoping you'd like to go to the ball vith me?" he asked charmingly.

Anna's mouth fell open and she felt her cheeks turn red. Her first instinct was to say no. She didn't know this guy very well, and she had promised the twins she'd avoid him. But then a defiant, angry part of her argued that what the twins wanted didn't matter. They were her friends, yet they'd left her to find her own date. Fred said he wanted to protect her, that she apparently couldn't protect herself from guys, yet he didn't do anything to prevent her being around other guys. So, her angry side rationalized, this was his own fault.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Anna answered with a small, forced smile.

Oscar grinned, though Anna found that grin made her uneasy, unlike when Fred would grin at her. Oscar took one of Anna's hands in his and lifted it to his lips, like he did the day they met.

"Then I look forward to seeing you. Shall ve meet in the entrance hall before the ball that evening?"

"Sure."

Oscar wished her a good day and left, going down a nearby staircase.

Anna took a deep, shuddering breath and stumbled into the nearest empty classroom, dropping clumsily into a desk. She propped her elbows on the desktop and dropped her head in her palms, staring blankly down at the worn wood of the desk.

"What did I just do?" she mumbled weakly, regret already swirling in her stomach. The thought of going to a ball with a guy she really knew nothing about, especially after what happened with Flint, scared the crap out of her.

"Anna?"

Looking over her shoulder, Anna saw Hermione standing in the open doorway. She slowly entered the room and turned a chair to sit across from Anna. She was silent for a moment, examining Anna seriously.

"So, what happened back in the common room?" she finally asked. "You just rushed off without saying anything. What's wrong?"

Anna swallowed thickly, looking down at the desktop. "I…don't even know where to begin." she admitted, crossing her arms on the desktop and rubbing her upper arms with her hands.

"Well, how about we start with why you rushed out of the room?" Hermione suggested logically, her own hands folded together on the desk between them.

Anna thought about it for a moment. "Well,…I'm not completely sure. I guess…I was just upset that Fred asked Angelina and not me."

Hermione's eyebrows rose up to her hairline, but she otherwise remained calm. "And why would that upset you?"

Anna shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I just figured our group of friends would all go together. Like, either Lee or one of the twins would ask me and we'd go as friends."

Hermione eyed her thoughtfully. "Are you sure that's the only reason?" she asked slowly.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked in confusion.

"Well, you didn't get upset when George asked Katie. Or when Lee asked Alicia. Why does _Fred_ asking someone upset you so much?"

Anna honestly thought about it for a moment. Why _did_ it upset her so much? "I'm not sure…Maybe it's because now I'm out of options? Like, with Fred asking someone else, I don't have anymore guy friends who could ask me."

Hermione eyed her almost doubtfully. "Are you sure that's all it is?" she asked slowly.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked uncertainly.

"Well,…it's just that…I don't know. I mean, it's hard to tell the twins apart all the time, but I think I've figured out which one is which, and, well…it just seems like your relationship with Fred is just a tiny bit different." she admitted.

"Well,…I mean, I don't _think_ it's different." Anna answered, though she wasn't really sure as she said it. "Is it?"

Hermione gave her a sympathetic look. "Remember that talk we had? With Ginny on the way to the Quidditch World Cup?"

Anna sat up straight, looking at Hermione like she was crazy. "You think I have a crush on _Fred_?"

"Is it that hard to believe?" Hermione countered.

Anna opened her mouth, but no sound came out. She thought back on all her interactions with Fred in the past year and realized they were a tiny bit different. She blushed more often, and Fred was a little more…touchy. He was always putting his arm around her or taking her hand… _Did_ she like him?

"Merlin," she muttered, her eyes going wide, "I think I _do_ like him."

A small smile tugged at the corners of Hermione's lips. "You're about as clueless as Harry and Ron." she teased.

Anna glared at her, her face turning red. "Okay, so, say I do like him. That doesn't change anything, does it? He's already going with Ang, and I'm going with-" she cut herself off, but Hermione leaned forward eagerly.

"You're going with someone else? Why would you be so upset if you already have a date?" she asked.

"Well," Anna looked down, picking at her thumbnail, "I didn't have a date when Fred asked Angelina, but…someone asked me on the way here."

"Who was it?" Hermione asked eagerly.

Anna chewed her lip. "You wouldn't know him." she warned, "He's a Durmstrang student. Actually,…I kinda regret saying yes. I regretted it the moment I said it, actually. I've spoken to him a few times, but I hardly know the guy…And the twins wanted me to stay away from him. They don't like him."

"Why don't they like him?"

Anna shrugged. "Not completely sure. They spewed a whole list of strange reasons, but I think they're just being overprotective."

"Maybe they just don't like him because he's Durmstrang." Hermione guessed quietly.

"That was part of it." Anna admitted before looking up the other girl. "So, are you going with anyone?"

Hermione blushed. "Maybe."

Anna grinned. "You gonna give me a name?"

"Well,…alright, but you have to promise not to tell anyone." Hermione said quickly, leaning forward over the desk. "I've only told Ginny, and she's sworn to secrecy. I don't want Harry and Ron to know. They'd probably tease me."

"Of course." Anna nodded. "That's no one's business but yours. I won't breathe a word."

Hermione nodded, releasing a quiet breath. "Viktor Krum." she whispered.

"I'm sorry, what?" Anna leaned forward, sure she hadn't heard right. "Did you just say _Viktor Krum_? Krum asked you to the ball?"

Hermione nodded self-consciously and Anna realized how her comment might've come across.

"I didn't mean that as a bad thing." she assured her quickly. "I've just noticed that Krum pretty much ignores all the girls that follow him around. I personally don't see why everyone's so obsessed, but, Merlin, dozens of girls are gonna be jealous of you, Granger." she ended with a grin, earning one from Hermione in response.

"Promise you won't say anything?" Hermione repeated.

"I solemnly swear." Anna held up her right hand. "Just promise you won't tell anyone about…well, about me and Fred." she ended quietly, glancing nervously over her shoulder at the door.

"Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." Hermione assured her.

XXX

"Morning." Anna jogged a bit to reach Harry so they could walk to breakfast together.

"Morning. Happy classes are done for the term?" Harry guessed.

"Probably not nearly as happy as you." she guessed, to which Harry nodded adamantly. "Hermione mentioned you still haven't even tried to figure that egg out." she added in an almost-scolding voice.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know, but I've got plenty of time."

"That's what the twins always say about homework. Then they scramble to finish in the few minutes before class." Anna pointed out, earning some laughter from her godbrother.

"Oh, before I forget to tell you. Sirius wrote back to me and said him and Wren want to have lunch at the Three Broomsticks at our next Hogsmeade weekend." Harry told her.

"Do they know when that is?"

"Yeah, they asked in their last letter and I told them."

They passed a suit of armor, which was singing Christmas carols like all the others in the castle. However, they only knew half the words, and Peeves was currently hiding in this one. Harry and Anna laughed at the very inappropriate words he was replacing the lyrics with.

The Great Hall was also decked out. There were twelve Christmas trees in the Hall decked out in decorations. There were also everlasting icicles on all the banisters around the castle.

When they walked down the Gryffindor table to find seats, Anna noticed Cho Chang at the Ravenclaw table look at Harry and blush before looking away.

"Sooo," Anna started as she and Harry sat down, "I also heard about you asking Cho to the ball." she commented lightly, grabbing some eggs.

Harry blushed and glared lightly over at her. "Did you hear that from Hermione, too?"

Anna shrugged. "That doesn't matter. I just heard about it. Have you asked anyone else?"

"There isn't anyone else I'd like to ask." Harry mumbled, his cheeks still red.

Anna had also heard, mainly from Hermione, that Ron had tried asking Fleur Delacour, completely humiliating himself, and Ginny was going with Neville.

"Well, if I wasn't already going with someone, I'd put you out of your misery and offer to go with you. But, unfortunately, I'm already going with someone." Anna admitted a little awkwardly.

Harry gave her a small smile. "I appreciate the offer. And I'd probably take you up on it if you weren't going with someone already."

"Going where with who already?" George asked as he and Fred sat across from Harry and Anna.

Anna blushed, but before she could make anything up, Harry beat her to it.

"Anna was just saying she'd go to the ball with me if she wasn't already going with someone else." Harry explained.

Fred and George stared at Anna, but George looked more surprised than Fred did.

"Oh, really? Who're you going with?" George asked carefully, sparing Fred a cautious glance. He'd given Fred an earful after he asked Angelina to the ball, pointing out multiple times that they didn't know for sure if that Markov guy even asked Anna to the ball.

Anna casually looked around the table, grabbing a large bowl of scrambled eggs to dish onto her plate. "Um, well…just someone-"

"Anna, tell us who it is." Fred snapped angrily, causing Anna to flinch. If he was this upset just knowing someone had asked her, he would be livid when he found out who it was.

"You're not going to like it." she admitted in a whisper, poking at her food with her fork.

"It's that Durmstrang guy, isn't it?" George asked quietly.

Anna looked up nervously, chewing on her lip as she nodded.

"Why?" Fred demanded. "You agreed to stay away from that guy. You don't know anything about him!"

Anna glared at him. "Who I go with is none of your concern. I didn't think anyone else was likely to ask me, so I said yes when he did. Should I have said no? Possibly. But I didn't, and I don't appreciate you attacking me over it."

With that, she snatched up a slice of toast and stormed out of the Great Hall. Harry, Fred, and George all watched her leave before Harry and George turned to stare at Fred.

"Nice one." George told him sarcastically. "I _told you_ , you should've asked her when we first found out about this stupid ball. But did you listen? No. So now she's going with a guy we don't know and don't trust."

"That bloke asked her that day before Charms class. I had no chance to ask her before that." Fred argued.

"Bullocks. You're just chicken. And I never thought I'd have to say that about you." George told him, serving himself his own breakfast.

Harry looked between them for a moment. "Your guys' friendship with Anna confuses me."

XXX

Anna and the twins sort of made up by the next day, though it was slightly tense. They just made sure to steer clear of any topic related to the Yule Ball and Oscar Markov.

The teachers gave out lots of homework for over the holidays, so the library and common room was often crowded. The first couple days of holiday, people kept randomly bursting into yellow feathers, the result of Anna and the twins' successful Canary Creams. After a couple days, everyone was cautious about accepting food from other people.

The snow came down in thick blankets of white. Kids were frequently seen playing in the snow. The house-elves were also serving lots of rich stews and puddings to keep the kids warm.

"Excited to see your parents?" Hermione asked as she sat down next to Anna for breakfast.

"Yeah. I mean, I was disappointed we couldn't go home. I've been looking forward to spending Christmas at home with my family, but I guess this is the next best thing."

"Ron and I were thinking of joining you guys, if that's alright?" Hermione asked.

"Of course!"

People started trickling out of the Great Hall and toward the front doors when they finished eating. Anna saw Fred and George with Lee while she remained with Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They were checked off by Filch and headed down the path to Hogsmeade.

They followed a large group straight to the Three Broomsticks, entering and looking around the slowly-filling pub. A waving hand caught Anna's eye and she saw her dad waving from a booth in the corner. Grinning, she poked Harry in the shoulder and grabbed Hermione's arm before heading toward the table. She picked up her pace when she saw that Remus had joined her mum and dad.

"Remus! I didn't know you were coming!" Anna beamed. Remus, Wren, and Sirius all stood up to properly greet the kids. Anna hugged Remus first, noticing he was pale and shaky.

"Well, I wasn't sure about it, but I wanted to see you all. I'll have to be locked up about Christmas Day and the day after." he explained quietly, referring to the full moon, as Anna moved on to hug her mum while Harry hugged Sirius. "How've you been doing, Harry?" Remus asked him as Harry stepped back and shook the werewolf's offered hand.

"I'm fine, really." Harry said with a shrug as they all sat down; the adults on one side and the kids on the other.

"It sounds like you handled the first task brilliantly." Remus told him with a smile. "Tied for first, right? That's pretty good considering the other champions are a good three years older than you."

"And using your broom-that was genius! I was going to tell you to use the Conjunctivitis Curse, but it sounds like that's what Krum did, which I guess didn't work too well." Sirius explained.

"Uh, yeah!" Anna cut in. "Krum caused that dragon to trample half her eggs! Her babies are dead because of him, and that damn Karkaroff still gave him a perfect score!"

"You've been hanging around Charlie too much." Ron told her when she finished her rant, leaning forward to see her around Harry and Hermione. Anna stuck her tongue out at him.

"So, anyway, how about we talk about the Yule Ball?" Wren suggested with a small grin.

"You all get dates yet? It's only a couple days away." Remus asked curiously.

Anna blushed and looked at the table, hoping they'd pick on the others first.

"So, Harry? Come on, who'd you sweep off her feet?" Sirius asked jokingly.

Harry sighed. "Well,…I asked Parvati Patil. I was running out of time and options. Plus, I knew she had a twin in Ravenclaw, so Ron's going with her."

"Well, that'll be fun. Like a double date." Wren pointed out, even though neither boy looked overly pleased.

"What about you, Hermione?" Remus asked kindly.

As Hermione opened her mouth, Ron cut her off, "She claims she's got a date, but she won't tell anyone who it is."

"That's not true." Anna told him, leaning forward to see him. "I know who she's going with. And it's her business, Ron, so lay off."

Ron glowered at her.

"And what about you, Anna?" Wren asked curiously. "Who're you going with? One of the twins?"

Anna winced and looked over at Hermione, who gave her a sympathetic look.

"Um,…no. Not one of the twins." Anna mumbled.

Sirius sat up straight. "Then who? It's not a Slytherin, is it?" he demanded.

Anna scrunched up her nose. "No, of course not. It's just…" she sighed in defeat. "He's from Durmstrang." she admitted.

"He's _what_?" Sirius asked in a tense, quiet voice.

"Sirius." Wren said warningly, laying her hand on his arm.

Anna glanced between her parents and Remus. Her father seemed to be the only one bothered by this information, Remus and her mum just looked curious.

"Do you know him well?" Remus asked curiously.

"Um,…well, no, not really." Anna admitted.

"Did he ask you?" Wren asked.

"Yeah."

"Why'd you say yes if you don't know him well?" Sirius asked tensely.

Anna shrugged uncomfortably. "I'm not sure. I didn't have many other options." she answered, partially lying. She didn't want to explain that she'd done it to make the twins angry.

"You had plenty of options. Options that aren't Slytherin or Durmstrang." Sirius complained. "I told you, Durmstrang focuses on the Dark Arts."

"Sirius." Wren interrupted, once again laying her hand on his arm. "Anna's a smart young lady. She knows what she's doing. She'll be fine. And I doubt a random boy is just going to attack her at the ball."

Anna gave her mum a grateful smile, even though she silently thought she really had no idea what she was doing.

Sirius grumbled, leaning back in his seat and crossing his arms over his chest. "He better be a gentleman to my daughter."

Wren rolled her eyes good-naturedly and Remus was fighting a smile of his own.

"Anyway, Sirius, don't you think we should share our news now?" Wren urged, changing the subject.

Sirius's scowl disappeared and he sat forward again, putting his arm around his wife's waist as a smile stretched across his cheeks. "That's right, I almost forgot."

"What news?" Anna asked, a smile sliding onto her face.

"Well," Wren looked up at Sirius with a warm smile before turning back to the kids, glancing mostly between Anna and Harry, "you're going to have a baby brother or sister."

Anna's mouth fell open, her eyes switching between her mum and dad. "You mean…you're…?"

Wren nodded. "Yep. We're having a baby. You're not upset are you?" she asked, suddenly looking worried as she looked between Anna and Harry.

Anna turned to look at Harry to see what his expression looked like, only for him to do the same. They stared at each other, but the only emotion Anna could see was surprise. No anger or disappointment or joy. Just shock.

Turning back to her parents, Anna spoke, "Um,…well, no. I'm not upset. I mean,…I've always hated being an only child. I'm just completely shocked, to be honest."

Wren smiled slightly, still looking worried as she turned to Harry. "And Harry? Are you okay with this?"

"Well,…I mean, I'm not mad or upset or anything. Like Anna said, it'd be cool to have a little brother or sister. Well, they wouldn't be my brother or-"

"They'd practically be. May as well skip the technicalities. Unless you don't want to see the baby as a sibling." Remus pointed out quietly.

Harry shook his head. "No, I'd love that. I…I like thinking of all of you as family. I agree with Anna, I'm just surprised."

"Yeah, we were, too." Sirius said, smiling down at his wife. "I mean, we were hoping it'd happen, but we were…pleasantly surprised. Weren't expecting it this soon."

"When's the baby due?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"Some time in August." Wren answered with a smile. "I'm hoping it's earlier in August so he or she will get to know you two before you go back to Hogwarts in September."

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl?" Anna asked.

"Not yet. But the Healer in St. Mungos said we should be able to find out when I'm about four or five months, so sometime in March. If you want, we can write to you as soon as we know?" she offered.

"Yeah, definitely." Anna and Harry both voiced their agreement.

"There was also the issue of rooms. The baby will probably sleep in our room with us for the first few months, but…well, he or she can't sleep in our room forever." Sirius finished, looking between Harry and Anna.

Anna glanced at Harry. "Well, I wouldn't mind sharing my room, either with Harry or the baby. I mean, I'll probably be moving out in a few years or so, anyway."

"That's one way to look at it." Sirius agreed with a nod, though he looked like he didn't like something. "But I'd prefer not to think about my daughter moving out already, if you don't mind."

They ordered warm butterbeers and lunch, talking about anything and everything, really. Wren and Remus wanted to know about their classes, Sirius wanted to know more about the tournament and other schools. He repeatedly reminded Anna to watch herself around her Durmstrang date at the ball. He also insisted she should have her wand on her at the ball, just in case. Wren eventually had to smack Sirius and tell him to knock it off. Anna also asked if Sirius or Remus had had any luck getting jobs. Remus had just got a job as a dishwasher at the Leaky Cauldron, and Sirius had just started training to become an Auror.

"Well, we won't take up anymore of your time. But before you get going, here're your Christmas presents." Wren announced, pulling some presents wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper from her purse. She handed one to Anna, one to Harry, and surprisingly she handed one each to Hermione and Ron as well.

"Thanks, Mum." Anna smiled.

"But you can't open them 'til Christmas morning." Wren warned them. Ron stopped picking at the wrapping paper, his ears red. Anna and Hermione stuck theirs in their shoulder bags.

Sirius threw money on the table to pay for everyone's meals and they all headed outside, saying their goodbyes outside the door of the pub.

Anna hugged her parents tight, an arm around each of Wren and Sirius's necks. Sirius kissed the top of her head before they pulled away from each other.

"Now, you kids keep us posted, alright? On everything." Sirius told the group as a whole.

"And behave yourselves." Wren added, looking mostly at Anna. She kissed her daughter once more on the forehead before giving them a farewell smile.

Wren, Sirius, and Remus waved goodbye once more before Disapparating on the spot. Anna, Ron, Hermione, and Harry all turned and started the slow walk back toward the castle.

"Can't believe…" Harry muttered distractedly.

"If you're referring to the whole baby thing…yeah." Anna agreed with a laugh. "So, how're you really feeling about it?" she asked him curiously.

Harry shrugged. "I mean,…I meant what I said. It'd be great to have a sort of younger sibling around. I just…I don't really know how to say this, to be honest." he admitted.

"Just say it." Anna suggested with a shrug.

"Well,…this sounds kinda rude and selfish, but…what if the baby…replaces me?" he asked quietly.

Anna and Hermione exchanged a worried, sympathetic glance before Anna turned back to her godbrother, resting a hand on his shoulder. "Harry, I get it. I mean, I kinda feel the same, but you know they'd never do that. My parents really care about you. My dad was practically brothers with your dad, our moms were best friends in school. They would never replace you. Yeah, a baby is a lot of work, so he or she will probably get a lot of attention, but I know my parents. And they will make sure to make time for both of us. I'm sure you could talk to my dad and he'd tell you the same thing."

Harry nodded with a small smile. "Yeah, I know. Thanks."

"No problem." Anna grinned, playfully tossing her arm around his shoulders. "Just think, Harry, we're in this together. We'll have to teach this little boy or girl to play Quidditch, and teach them about the Marauders' Map, and causing all kinds of mischief when they get to Hogwarts…"

Harry and Ron were both laughing, and Hermione looked amused even as she tried to look scolding.

"Well, you four look like you're having fun." a familiar voice commented before suddenly Fred and George were walking on Harry's other side. Anna let her arm fall from her godbrother's shoulders, keeping her smile on her face even as she eyed the twins wearily. On the outside, their relationship was back to normal, but sometimes it seemed tense.

"How'd lunch with your parents go?" Fred asked curiously, looking more at Anna.

"It was very…interesting." she answered slowly, making Harry and Ron laugh again.

"How so?" George asked with a grin.

"Well, Remus was there, and we all caught up on things. They asked us about the tournament and school. And my parents had some interesting news." Anna explained.

"Like?" Fred and George urged.

"Like…I'm going to be a big sister." she answered with a smile.

Fred and George stared at her for a long moment before glancing at each other.

"Are you serious?" they asked in unison, grins stretching across their faces.

"Your parents are having another kid?" George asked on his own.

"Yep." Anna and Harry both answered.

"And how are you both handling that?" Fred asked, looking between Anna and Harry.

They both shrugged. "We figure it'll take some getting used to," Anna admitted, "but we both would enjoy having a younger sibling. You guys know I've always hated being an only child."

"True." George stated, looking thoughtful. "Did they say when the baby will be born?"

"August."

"Huh." George nodded slowly. "So,…they must've been doing a lot of celebrating after you and Harry got back to school."

When his words registered in Anna's brain, her face contorted in disgust.

"Ugh! George! _Why_ would you put that in my head?!" she demanded, glaring at him.

Fred and George were both laughing hysterically, and Anna could see Harry had a red face and awkward grin, clearly embarrassed by the mental image like Anna was.

Anna smirked. "You know, your parents had seven kids. Think of how much _celebrating_ caused that."

Fred and George instantly stopped laughing and grimaced, but Ron overreacted.

"Aw, come on!" Anna turned to look at Ron, who looked like he was going to be sick. "If you want to torture them, that's fine, but why torture me, too?"

Anna, Hermione, and Harry all burst out laughing.

"Hey, I just realized something." Ron suddenly exclaimed. "How is this even possible? I mean, you're almost of age. There'll be…a seventeen year age gap between you and this baby. Wouldn't your mom be too old to have a baby?"

Anna rolled her eyes while the twins snorted. "She was about 18 when she had me, Ron. She's only, like, 34. Women can have kids into their forties or fifties, depending on the woman."

"That's still weird. You're almost the age your mum was when she had you. Imagine if you had a kid at the same age as your mum, your kid and your brother or sister would be close to the same age."

Everyone was staring at Ron. Anna could tell her face was red, and she felt extremely uncomfortable.

"I don't think I've got anything to worry about, Ron." Anna mumbled, her hands in her jean pockets. "I'm definitely not having kids anytime soon."

There was a slightly awkward silence that was broken by rushed footsteps behind them and a heavy weight landing on Anna's back. Anna lurched forward and suddenly Katie hopped off her back and walked between her and Harry.

"Hi. How'd lunch go?" Katie asked breathlessly.

"Pretty good."

"Great. Hey, I need to try my dress robes on one more time, and I'd like some extra opinions. Please?" she asked desperately, hugging Anna's arm tightly.

Anna chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Now that you mention it, I haven't tried my dress robes on yet, either." she admitted before turning to Hermione. "What about you, Hermione? We could all go up to my dormitory and try on our dress robes, exchange opinions and stuff? Wanna come?"

Hermione smiled slightly. "Yeah, that sounds like fun. Ginny's been helping me with ideas for my hair, but I could definitely use extra opinions." she joked.

"Great! Let's go!" Katie exclaimed, grabbing each Anna's arm and Hermione's before dragging them quickly toward the castle. "Bye, boys!" she shouted over her shoulder.

There were a few confused and questioning 'bye's from the boys as the girls hurried away.

Katie dragged the other two all the way to the castle, and they were all slipping and stumbling on patches of ice and giant snow banks. The temperature inside the castle wasn't exactly warm, but it was significantly warmer than it was outside. And still, Katie pulled them through the corridors of the castle and up seven floors to the portrait of the Fat Lady.

Katie finally released their arms and panted the password, out of breath from running through the whole castle, and when the portrait swung open, the three girls climbed up into the common room.

"Should we all meet in your dormitory with our dresses?" Katie asked Anna, turning to look at her over her shoulder.

Anna shrugged. "Sure, if you want."

Katie bolted up the stairs and Anna exchanged an amused glance with Hermione. As Hermione walked more slowly up the girls stairs, Anna paused where Ginny was sitting on an armchair.

"Hey, a couple of us are going to try on our dress robes in my dormitory. Wanna come?"

Ginny beamed. "Yeah!" She hopped up off her chair and hurried up the stairs ahead of Anna, who laughed and followed her.

Ginny turned off into the third year girls' dormitory while Anna continued up to the sixth years' dormitory. She headed to her bed, which her trunk was at the foot of. She took off her cloak, scarf, and hat, tossing them on the floor by her bed. Opening her trunk, she dug around inside until she found her dress robes, pulling them out and laying it out on her bed. Katie came hurrying in a second later.

"Okay, I'm here. Where's Hermione?" Katie demanded, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"She's coming, calm down!" Anna laughed. "Why are you so hyper?"

"Well, I bought some candy and stuff at Honeydukes…and I ate it all. And I had about…four mugs of butterbeer…"

"You need to lay off the sugar for the next few weeks." Anna told her, partially joking, but partially serious. She'd never seen Katie this crazy.

Katie shrugged just as Hermione and Ginny appeared with their dress robes draped over their arms.

"Okay, who wants to go first?" Ginny asked.

"Me!" Katie hopped in place once more before hurrying into the girls' bathroom at the other end of the room.

Anna shook her head while the other two girls took seats on Angelina's bed across from Anna's. "We're cutting off her sugar supply. Honestly." she joked, making the other two girls laugh.

"Ooh, are those your dress robes?" Ginny asked, catching sight of the black fabric on Anna's bed.

"Yep. Apparently they used to be in my dad's family, but my mum gave them to me." Anna explained, holding the dress up for Ginny and Hermione to see.

"They look pretty." Hermione told her with a smile.

"They look like something you'd wear to a funeral." Anna countered jokingly before looking them over. "Well, a very fancy funeral." she amended, making Ginny snort and Hermione smother a smile.

A minute later, Katie came back out wearing silver dress robes with lacey, short sleeves. Ginny 'ooh'ed and Anna and Hermione clapped when Katie spun on the spot, making the dress flare out slightly.

"Very pretty." Anna told her with a nod.

"Yeah." Ginny agreed. "Do you know what you'll do with your hair?" she asked curiously.

"Not sure, really." Katie admitted, looking down at her dress. "I was thinking some kind of bun."

"Mm." Anna grimaced slightly. "You always wear your hair up in a ponytail, especially with Quidditch. Maybe you should try and let your hair down, literally. I'm sure one of the girls could help you come up with something. Maybe curl your hair, or pull half of it up and leave the rest down or something. You need to quit putting your pretty hair up." she scolded her jokingly.

Katie grinned, rolling her eyes. "Alright, alright. I'll see what I can come up with. Maybe Alicia will have some ideas."

"Okay, go change out of it. Who wants to go next?" Anna asked.

Ginny went next, stepping back out wearing a pastel pink dress that appeared mildly worn, probably a hand-me-down. Anna would've thought pink would clash with her red hair, but it looked beautiful. They talked for a bit, and Ginny decided she'd pick a casual hairstyle, probably tying the hair around her face back somehow.

Hermione went third, coming out of the bathroom in dress robes made of a floaty, periwinkle-blue material. She also mentioned Angelina had suggested in passing that she use Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to make her hair straight and planned on putting her hair into a kind of knot.

When Hermione came back out of the bathroom, Anna took her place with her own dress robes. She slipped out of her jeans and jumper so she could step into her dress, pulling it up. She wasn't sure if she liked the fact that it was sleeveless. It felt like it could just slip off, even though if felt snug. When it was situated correctly, Anna opened the bathroom door and stepped out.

Angelina and Alicia seemed to have just returned from Hogsmeade, as they were both setting down bags and pulling off their winter clothes. Everyone turned to look when Anna stepped out, and they stared.

"Merlin! You look amazing!" Ginny burst out.

"Really?" Anna asked doubtfully, looking down at herself.

"Of course!" Alicia agreed. "Your date will have to pick his jaw up off the ground when he sees you!"

Anna had been starting to smile, until she remembered Oscar. Her smile faltered and she looked back down at herself again to hide it. She suddenly hated herself for saying yes. She'd have been happier just going with her friends instead of a date she didn't really know.

"What do you think you'll do with your hair?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Hm." Anna pulled half her hair over her shoulder, looking down at the dark brown strands. "Not sure. I'll figure that out later." she mumbled before clearing her throat. "I'm going to change back out of this now." she told them, not looking at anyone as she went back into the bathroom.

There was a couple moments of silence before Alicia looked around at everyone else.

"What was that about?" she asked curiously.

"Not sure." Katie shrugged. "She seemed fine before."

"Does anyone know _why_ she agreed to go with that Durmstrang guy?" Angelina asked, plopping down on her bed next to Hermione. "It just doesn't seem like something she'd do."

"You're right. Maybe anyone else I wouldn't have thought much of it, but…Anna's not the type. It takes her time to warm up to people. Unless she talks to that guy more than she's let on." Alicia agreed.

"I just can't figure it out. I mean, I thought for sure Fred would ask her. That's why I was so shocked he asked me." Angelina pondered thoughtfully.

Katie picked at a loose thread on her sleeve. "Well,…I think he wanted to…"

Everyone turned to stare at her.

"What do you know that you're not saying?" Alicia asked suspiciously.

Katie grimaced and looked around at them all with a guilty expression. "Well,…" Seeing their persistent expressions, she sighed, "Alright, fine, but you all have to swear not to say anything to anyone." she whispered, glancing at the girls' bathroom where Anna still was.

Everyone quickly and quietly voiced their agreement, moving to sit on Alicia's bed with her so they were all close together.

"Well,…it's something George told me in confidence. He was getting kinda frustrated with Fred and needed to talk. Apparently,…well, I guess Fred kinda…fancies Anna."

All the girls' eyes widened. Ang and Alicia squealed quietly, Ginny bounced on the spot, and Hermione's mouth fell open.

"Are you serious?" Ginny squealed.

Katie nodded with her own smile. "Yeah. And I guess Fred really wanted to ask her to the ball, at least as friends, but that Durmstrang guy beat him to it."

Hermione's head snapped up, her brows furrowed. "No he didn't."

The other girls turned to stare at her.

"What do mean?" Ginny asked.

Hermione winced and glanced nervously at the girls' bathroom, which Anna seemed to be taking her time in. "Well,…it's not really my place to say, but…"

"Just spit it out. It won't leave this room." Angelina assured her.

Hermione huffed, glancing at the bathroom door once more before looking around at the other girls. "When Fred asked you," she nodded at Ang, "to the ball in the common room that day, Anna got up and left. Some of us noticed she seemed a bit off, so when the twins went to the owlry, I tried to find Anna, and I found her in an abandoned classroom. Long story short,…Anna was upset about Fred asking you because she fancies him, too."

All the girls' mouths dropped again.

"But…if she likes Fred, why would she say yes to another guy?" Ginny asked.

"That's just it…I don't know where you guys got the idea that he asked Anna first, but that's not how it happened. Anna told me that she was upset Fred asked Angelina, she left the common room, and the Durmstrang guy found her and asked her then. Literally minutes after Fred asked you." Hermione explained, her eyes on Angelina at the end.

The other girls looked among themselves, their minds processing this information.

"I still don't get why she'd say yes. Doesn't sound like her." Angelina murmured thoughtfully, resting her chin in her hand with her elbow on her knee.

"She regretted it instantly." Hermione announced, causing them to look at her again. "She said she mainly said yes to kinda get back at the twins for leaving her hanging, more Fred than George, though. But yeah, she regretted saying yes to him the second it came out of her mouth."

Katie chewed her bottom lip for a moment. "Then we'll have to fix this."

"What do you mean?" Alicia asked her.

"They both like each other. George said the only reason Fred didn't ask Anna…Even though he thought she'd already agreed to go with another guy, George convinced him to ask her anyway, but then Ron called him out that night. He couldn't risk a blow to his ego in front of Ron. That's why he asked Ang." Katie explained. "So, they both like each other, but it could take forever for them to realize it on their own. We need to do something or they may never get together."

"And how are we going to do that?" Hermione asked skeptically.

"Well, the Yule Ball is just around the corner." Ginny pointed out, a small smirk tugging at her lips.

"Yes," Katie agreed with a smirk of her own, "and what more perfect a romantic setting than a ball?"

 **XXX**

 **DON'T KILL ME OVER FRED AND ANNA'S DATES!**

 **I swear I'll make it up to you!**

 **Also, SURPRISE! I hope you all like the idea of a SiriusXWren baby!**


	24. Save a dance for me

Christmas Day started as any other Christmas day would. Annabelle woke up and opened her presents before heading down to breakfast in the Great Hall. She spent the day relaxing in the common room with Fred, George, Lee, Katie, Angelina, and Alicia. Anna only nibbled on her food when they returned to the Great Hall for lunch. She felt so nervous, she worried she'd just throw her food back up. She couldn't bring herself to even look towards the Slytherin table and risk seeing Oscar, because then she was sure she'd throw up from the nerves.

After lunch, Fred and George wanted to go outside. The snow on the grounds remained untouched apart from the deep channels so the other schools could get to the castle.

Fred started a snowball fight by hitting Ron in the face with a snowball. Soon, it was an all-out war between the twins and Ron and Harry. Fred tried dragging Anna into it, but she simply felt too agitated and nervous, so she just sat on a bench with Hermione to watch. She got a few quiet laughs out of the fight, but otherwise she was too distracted to really pay attention.

Anna dazedly saw Harry hit George in the shoulder when Hermione shifted next to her. She lifted her arm and pulled her sleeve back to look at her wristwatch.

"It's five o'clock. Do you want to go inside and start getting ready?" she asked quietly, turning to look at Anna.

Wringing her hands together nervously, Anna shrugged with her eyes fixed on the boys.

"Anna?" Hermione laid her hand on the other girl's shoulder, making Anna jump. "Do you want to go in and start getting ready? Remember, we all agreed to meet in your dormitory around five with the other girls."

They had, indeed, agreed to meet Katie, Ginny, Ang, and Alicia in the sixth year girls' dormitory.

Sighing, Anna nodded slightly. "Yeah, sure. Let's go."

Both girls stood up and Hermione called to the boys across the courtyard. "Hey, we're going to go inside and get ready for the ball!"

Ron stopped as he was packing snow into a ball and looked at Hermione incredulously. "What, you need three hours?" He was punished for his distraction by a hit to the head with a large snowball from George.

Hermione looped her arm through Anna's and the two started walking toward the castle. Ron's voice yelling behind them, "Who're you going with?" was clearly directed at Hermione, though he received no answer.

When they reached the dormitory, they found all the other girls already there and getting ready.

"Does anyone else need to shower or use the bathroom?" Anna asked, taking off her winter clothes and picking up her dress robes.

Everyone answered no or that they already had, so Anna went into the bathroom and locked the door. She undressed and showered for almost half an hour, making sure to shave and scrub every inch of skin until her skin was pink.

When she eventually dragged herself from the warm shower, she wrapped her hair up in a towel atop her head. She dried herself off and stepped into her dress robes, using her wand to zip it up in the back.

Setting her wand back on the edge of the sink, Anna finally looked up into the mirror. Her hair was wrapped up atop her head in a red towel with the Gryffindor crest. Her face was pale and she looked sick. Her shoulders and collarbones were bare, the corset-like body of her dress was snug around her chest and waist before it flared out in a big gown.

Taking a deep breath, it came out shaky and she quickly braced her hands on the porcelain sink, her head hanging.

"You can do this." she whispered to herself. "You'll be fine. It's just a ball. Just a dance. You'll be fine."

There was a knock on the bathroom door. "Anna? You okay in there?"

Taking a deep breath, Anna pulled herself up and waved her wand wordlessly at the door, hearing the lock click. "Yeah, Katie, I'm fine."

The door creaked open and Katie peaked in. "Are you sure?" she asked worriedly.

Anna smiled at her in her reflection of the mirror. "Yeah."

Katie smiled back and stepped inside. She was in her silver dress, but she hadn't done much with her hair other than straightening it.

"Have you figured your hair out yet?" she asked.

Anna shrugged. "No, but that's easier for me than it is you guys. All I have to do is focus on my hair and it changes, I don't have to use my wand or some potion to make it do what I want."

"That's right, I sometimes forget you're a Metamorphmagus." Katie mused. "You basically never change your appearance so it's sometimes easy to forget."

Anna shrugged. "I suppose."

Katie turned and stared at the side of Anna's face, while Anna just watched their reflection.

"Are you sure you're okay? You seem off."

Anna sighed, turning to face her friend and leaning her hip against the sink. "I just really regret agreeing to go with this guy. I'd almost prefer just staying here in my pajamas and eating ice cream or something. Or not having a date at all and just hanging out with my friends."

Katie smiled sympathetically. "Well, he'll probably want to hang out with his friends, so maybe you can spend some time with us?" she suggested.

Anna smiled. "I hope so."

"Well, come on. We're all helping each other get ready." Katie insisted, grabbing Anna's hand and dragging her out of the bathroom.

Everyone was in their dresses now, and were working on their hair and makeup. Angelina was applying that Sleekeazy's Hair Potion to her normally-braided hair, instructing Hermione on how to do the same to tame her normally-bushy, brown hair. Alicia was putting her makeup on and Ginny was doing the same.

"Okay, Alicia what should I do with my hair?" Katie demanded, sitting on Alicia's bed.

Alicia paused and looked her over. "You wanted to keep it down, right?"

"Yeah."

"What about…if you curled it, and I put it in a waterfall braid, so your curls hung down from the braid?" Alicia offered.

"Ooh!" Ang looked over from where she was smoothing her hair down with her hands. "That would look so pretty. Go for it, Katie!"

"Okay." Katie agreed easily, smiling.

"Great. If you want to start curling your hair while I finish my makeup, I can braid it for you when I'm done." Alicia decided, going back to sweeping a brush over her cheeks.

Anna smiled at her friends before moving to stand in front of one of the vanity tables, looking in the round mirror. She unwrapped the towel from her hair, letting the dark brown, damp strands fall around her shoulders. Picking up her hairbrush, she ran it through her hair, parting her hair a little more over her left eye than the middle like she usually did. Once her hair was brushed through and tangle-free, she set the brush down and stared at her reflection, squinting her eyes with effort for a few moments before her hair dried itself.

Chewing her lip thoughtfully, Anna stared at her hair in her reflection, trying to decide what to do with it. Stepping back slightly, she looked over her face, shoulders, and dress. Parting her hair at the back of her head, she pulled it in front of her shoulders to look at it.

 _'Maybe…darker would go with the dress…'_ she thought. Squinting her eyes at her hair, she watched as it slowly grew darker and darker. She stopped when it was a couple shades short of black, a really dark brown. She smiled.

"I like that color."

Anna looked up and smiled at Hermione, who had appeared next to her, picking up some makeup on the table of the vanity. Her hair was now sleek and shinny, twisted into an elegant knot at the back of her head.

"Thanks." Anna grinned. "So, I'm going to make it slightly curly,…should I make it longer, too?"

Hermione tilted her head, looking at Anna's reflection. "Yeah, a little longer would look nice."

Anna nodded once before scrunching up her face in concentration again. Her hair slowly lengthened to just below her chest and curled into loose ringlets. When she liked the length and curliness, she stopped and eyed her work. Giving one sure nod, she turned back to the rest of the room.

"That looks really pretty." Ginny told her, who was working on pulling the sections of hair around her face back.

"Thanks. You want some help with your hair? I could braid those sections and pin them back." Anna offered.

"Sure." Ginny agreed easily, dropping her hands to her lap and letting the hair fall back. Anna sat on the edge of the bed and Ginny turned so her back faced her. Anna loosely braided the sections from around Ginny's face and tied them together with a hair tie at the back of her head.

"There. What do you think?"

Ginny turned her head so she could see it in the mirror on the vanity. "I love it! Thanks!" Turning around, Ginny gave Anna a tight hug.

"You want me to do your makeup?" Angelina offered.

"Mm. I guess. Do I have to have makeup?" Anna asked uncertainly. She didn't really care for makeup and didn't use it often.

"I'll make it light, promise." Ang assured her.

"Alright."

Angelina did as promised and only put light makeup on Anna's face, mostly eyeliner and some natural eye shadow. She commented Anna's skin was so clear she didn't need any cover-up or blush.

Ang did Anna's makeup in about five minutes. Being done, Anna just sat on her bed, waiting for everyone else to finish up. She tried to focus on the conversations around the room, keeping her mind off the night ahead.

Finally, just around 7:20 everyone seemed to be finishing up. Anna slipped on her black heals, which were only a couple inches since she hated wearing heels, and stood up as everyone started heading for the door.

Anna stood back and let the others walk out ahead of her. Hermione hurried out first, saying something about having to meet her date somewhere. The others followed more slowly, since most everyone's dates were Gryffindors and would be waiting in the common room, or still getting ready in their dormitories.

Angelina and Alicia walked down, followed by Ginny, Katie, and Anna last. Anna went down slowly, about half the pace of the other girls. Her mind was partially blank until she heard voices from the common room. She paused, two voices standing out among the others. She stopped and listened.

"…now, you seem like a nice guy, Neville…"

"But this is our little sister we're talking about. Of course, she could hex you if you asked for it, but-"

"We just want you to know, if you're anything less than respectful to her, you have us to answer to."

Anna smiled slightly when she heard Neville stuttering something, and then Ginny, who had reached the bottom of the stairs, scold her brothers.

"Fred! George! Leave Neville alone!"

"Aw, look at you!" George cooed at her.

"Our baby sister, all grown up!" Fred added in a mockingly-tearful voice. Anna could just imagine him throwing his arm around George's shoulder, both of them wiping fake tears from their eyes.

"Oh, shut up!" Ginny told them, but her voice was amused.

"Anyway, all you girls look beautiful. Are you all ready to go soon?"

"Where's Anna?"

That's when Anna realized she'd stopped walking, still out of sight of the common room. Her smile fell from her face and her hand tightened on the handrail. It was hitting her again. Instead of having a fun evening with her friends, she'd be spending it with a stranger.

Katie, who was still just at the foot of the stairs, looked back over her shoulder. When she saw Anna, she frowned and hurried back up the stairs, stopping a couple steps down from Anna.

"What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

Anna swallowed, shaking her head and forcing a smile. "Just nervous."

Katie gave her a sympathetic smile. "Well, if you need to get away from your date, just tell him your friends demand a few rounds on the dance floor. And if he tries to monopolize your time, we'll kidnap you. You know the twins would be really good at that."

Anna laughed, the knot in her stomach lessening slightly. "I'll keep that in mind. Thanks."

"No problem. Now, come on." Katie took Anna's hand and tugged on it, only letting go when she was sure Anna was following her.

The common room was already full of people in all kinds of different colored dress robes, clearly all waiting before they headed down to the entrance hall. All their friends were standing in a group near the couches. Ginny was talking with Neville, Ron and Harry standing near them. Fred, George, and Lee were standing nearby talking with Angelina and Alicia.

When Anna's feet touched the common room floor, George glanced up and saw her. He grinned and elbowed Fred, who turned to look in the same direction. When he saw her, his eyes widened for a second before he smiled at her. Blushing, Anna smiled in return as she followed Katie over to them.

Katie instantly went to George's other side while Anna stopped next to Alicia, facing the twins. They were both wearing black dress robes over a white button-down and a vest. The only difference was George's vest was green and Fred's was a rusty orange color. They also hadn't done much with their hair, except maybe actually combing it instead of running their hands through it. Either way, they both looked very dashing.

"Well, don't you look lovely." George looked her over and winked.

Anna blushed again. "Thank you. You guys look great, too."

"Why, thank you!" George mock bowed while Fred gave her a small smile.

"We could probably head down, now. The doors will open in about half an hour." Katie told them.

"Well, let's go, then!" George beamed, offering his arm for Katie to take. She giggled, taking his arm so the pair could lead the group to the portrait hole. They stepped through first, then Lee helped Alicia through, Angelina followed, and Anna waited for Fred to go next.

However, to her surprise, he held his hand out to her. She blinked at it for a moment before slowly taking it. He helped her step through the portrait hole, which was awkward in heels, and she had to lift up her dress to manage it. He climbed through after her and they let go of their hands, but then he held out his elbow.

"Shouldn't you be doing that for Angelina?" she asked quietly, glancing ahead at where their friends were walking down the corridor.

"Well, she's already way up there. So I figured I'd walk with the prettiest girl in the vicinity." he told her with a charming smile, still holding his elbow out for her.

Blushing, Anna smiled at him and slipped her arm through his, holding the crook of his elbow lightly. "Well, then, thank you." she told him.

They walked quietly for a few moments, still quite a ways behind their friends. Though, neither of them seemed keen to catch up, and the others didn't seem keen to wait for them.

"I meant what I said, you know." Fred suddenly said in a low voice, looking down at her. "You look beautiful. I mean, you always do, but tonight especially. Your hair's different."

Anna blushed, looking down at a curl of hair that had fallen over her shoulder. "Yeah,…I decided to try something different…And thank you. You look very handsome, as well."

Fred grinned and surprisingly didn't make an arrogant comment. "So,…you'll have to save a dance for me tonight. You know, if your date can let you go for a song or two."

Anna smiled shyly at the ground, hoping he wouldn't start ranting about Oscar. "Yeah. I'd like that. Katie already said that if I need to get away from him for a bit, I can use the excuse that my friends insist on getting some time with me tonight."

Fred chuckled lowly, and the sound sent a jolt straight to Anna's stomach.

"I'll have to thank her for that." Fred murmured, smiling softly down at her. Anna smiled in return, unable to help returning his always-contagious smile.

They arrived in the entrance hall a few moments after their friends, who greeted them with smug and oddly suspicious-looking smirks.

They conversed and joked and laughed as they waited for 8:00 to arrive. Not long before, the front doors opened, letting in a crisp, winter breeze as the Durmstrang students all entered with Karkaroff.

Krum was right in the front of the group, a beautiful Hermione on his arm. Anna smiled when she realized the young bookworm was holding herself differently. She seemed more confident, her back not bent under the weight of her books.

"Is that Granger? With _Krum_?" the twins asked in unison, staring at their brother's friend in astonishment. Katie, Ang, and Alicia gasped and started babbling excitedly.

McGonagall called all the champions and their dates over. Anna gave Harry a reassuring smile as he passed with one of the Patil twins on his arm. Fleur walked by on the arm of Roger Davies, Cedric and Cho followed, and finally Krum and Hermione.

Finally, the doors of the Great Hall opened and everyone began entering. Anna moved to follow her friends when a hand took hold of her forearm. Jumping, Anna quickly turned around and looked up at Oscar.

"Hello, Annabelle." he smiled down at her. "You look beautiful." he told her, looking her over in a look very different from how George had teasingly done so earlier. It made her skin crawl and she shifted her feet nervously.

Smiling shakily, she said, "Thanks. Um, should we go in?"

Oscar offered her his arm and she carefully placed her hand in the crook of his elbow similar to how she had with Fred. Only similar because it felt awkward and strange, at least to her. With Fred it had felt casual yet sweet. They'd never really done it before, but it felt like it was a common occurrence between them.

Oscar lead her into the Great Hall with the rest of the crowd. The walls were covered in sparkling silver frost and garlands of mistletoe and ivy were crisscrossed near the starry, black ceiling. The House tables had vanished, replaced by a hundred smaller, lantern-lit ones that could seat about a dozen people.

Everyone was settling into tables. Anna saw across the Hall, all her friends were settling down at a table. George was helping Katie into a chair, Ang and Alicia were already sitting and chatting, Lee was looking around excitedly, and Fred…Fred was still standing, his eyes scanning the Great Hall around him. He met Anna's eyes just as her and Oscar reached a table. They stared at each other for a moment until Anna smiled at him. He returned it, though it wasn't as big as usual.

Looking away, Anna released Oscar's arm so he could pull a chair out for her. Giving him a small smile, she sat down and looked nervously around the table. She was surrounded by people she didn't know. She knew all five of the other guys were Durmstrang for sure, but she wasn't sure about the girls. She recognized a few from Hogwarts, though she couldn't pinpoint what House or year they were, but a few she didn't recognize, meaning they might've been Durmstrang or Beauxbatons.

When everyone was seated, McGonagall lead the champions and their partners into the Great Hall. Everyone applauded for them before all the champions and their partners sat at a large, round table at the top of the Hall with the judges. Harry looked miserable, while his date was absolutely beaming at everyone around. Anna thought she looked a little ditzy, but that was a little mean. She was distracted from this thought by a flash of ginger.

Her eyes snapped open at the sight of Percy Weasley sitting with Ludo Bagman and the other judges. Crouch was nowhere to be seen. Poor Harry was stuck sitting next to Percy, who appeared to be talking his ear off.

Anna glanced over her shoulder, wondering if the twins had seen their brother. But they were laughing with Lee about something, gesturing like crazy with their hands. She smiled slightly at the sight, wishing she was over there instead.

"Annabelle." Anna turned to look at Oscar, who was sitting next to her. "Are you going to eat?"

Sure enough, he already had a plate of food in front of him. Anna glanced around, wondering where the food had come from. Each person had a glittering, gold plate set in front of them, as well as small menus. As she watched, a couple people were looking over their menus, and then they'd speak their order clearly into their plate, so that their food would magically appear.

Following their lead, Anna looked over the menu before setting it aside and lifting her plate to her face.

"Grilled chicken." she said clearly. Setting the plate back on the table, a grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, and asparagus appeared on her plate.

While eating, Oscar spoke mostly with his friends, occasionally turning to Anna to talk to her. On the one hand, she felt left out. Everyone seemed to know someone at this table. A couple girls were chatting in rapid French, confirming Anna's suspicion they were from Beauxbatons, some of the guys were talking from across the table, one of the guys was whispering in his date's ear, making her giggle.

On the other hand, she preferred silently watching. It gave her moments to look over her shoulder at her friends. This, of course, just made her feel more left out. Her friends were all laughing and eating, not a single one quiet or alone. If she was over there, they wouldn't let her be left out.

She also frequently looked up at the table at the top of the Great Hall. Every time, Hermione was deep in conversation with Krum. At least she was enjoying herself. Harry always looked uncomfortable, with Percy talking at him with the same arrogant look he always had.

When everyone finished eating, Dumbledore stood from his seat and asked everyone to do the same.

Anna pushed her chair out and stood up, along with everyone else. Dumbledore waved his wand, and all the tables and chairs zoomed back along the walls, leaving the floor clear. He then conjured a raised platform into existence along the right wall. A set of drums, several guitars, a lute, a cello, and some bagpipes were set upon it.

As the Weird Sisters stepped onto stage to wild applause, the lanterns on the tables went out and the champions walked onto the dance floor. The band members were extremely hairy and were wearing black robes artfully ripped and torn.

Anna's lips twitched in mild amusement when she saw Harry's date forcibly place Harry's hands on her waist and in her own hand.

The champions and their dates danced alone on the floor for one song. When the next song began to play, other people began leading their dates onto the floor.

Oscar turned to Anna and offered a hand to her. "Vould you like to dance?"

"Um," Anna barely glanced over to see George, Lee, and Fred leading Katie, Alicia, and Angelina respectively onto the dance floor. "Sure." she turned back to Oscar and forced a small, believable smile.

Oscar smirked, taking her hand and leading her into the crowd. They stopped near the center of the crowd and he pulled Anna close to him, his hand on her waist and his other hand holding hers. She tentatively placed her own hand on his shoulder as he began leading her around the floor. She let her eyes wander to the others around her.

Dumbledore was doing a waltz with Madame Maxime. Moody was dancing with Professor Sinistra.

The next song was faster, so the pace of everyone's dances picked up as well. Oscar surprisingly spun Anna around and she laughed in surprise, not expecting it to actually be a little fun. A few moments later, he moved his hands to her waist and actually lifted her in the air. In the split second she was in the air, Anna saw Fred and Angelina dancing so wildly that people had backed away for fear of injury, leaving a small circle around them. She felt a pang of jealously, but then Oscar brought her back to the ground and lead her around the floor some more.

After a few more songs, Anna stepped back and released Oscar's hands.

"Um, I think I'm going to sit down for a bit. A little tired." she admitted breathlessly.

"Of course. Vould you like me to get you a drink?" he offered.

"Yes, please." Anna smiled in thanks before heading toward where the tables were pushed against the wall. She released a heavy breath as she plopped down on a chair. She watched the crowd, a small smile stretched over her lips as she watched everyone have fun. She saw Harry and Ron sitting with their dates several tables down, looking sulky, and she was tempted to go down and visit with them, until she saw Percy joining them.

Then, her eyes found two identical heads of red hair in the crowd. Her back straightened when she saw Fred and George talking with Bagman. They appeared to be speaking pleasantly, though Bagman looked like he was trying to ditch them. Anna had just leaned forward, preparing to stand up and go over there to join them, when Oscar returned carrying two glasses of punch.

He smiled charmingly at her, handing her one glass before sitting next to her. Her relaxed posture tensed slightly when he draped his arm over the back of her chair, but she forced herself to relax and take a sip of her punch.

She mildly grimaced around the brim of the glass, looking down at the red drink. It tasted…not bad, but funny. Deciding she'd just get a butterbeer or something later, she placed the glass on the table behind her, turning back to watch people have fun.

Over the next hour, Oscar dragged Anna onto the dance floor a couple more times. He also got several more glasses of the punch, while Anna got a butterbeer. She eventually started to notice that he began acting funny. After about his seventh glass of punch, he was much louder and rowdier with his friends, who were also starting to act the same.

During a slow song, Anna and Oscar were dancing among the other couples. She still felt slightly awkward, especially as she was acutely aware that his hands were very low on her back, just above her butt, and still occasionally inching downwards.

She was just contemplating a way to get away from him so she could find her friends when she took a breath through her nose. Oscar had just exhaled in her face, and his hot breath smelled like…well, it smelled like the different kinds of alcohol or firewhiskey her dad kept around the house and drank on occasions.

That's when she made the connection. The punch tasted funny because someone must've spiked it, and Oscar and his friends had been acting funny because they were drunk.

Before Anna could come up with an excuse to find her friends, Oscar released her waist and took her hand in his, pulling her out of the crowd.

"Where-"

"I vant to show you something." Oscar mumbled lowly, weaving in and out of the crowd.

Anna wasn't sure what he could possibly show her. She was the one from Hogwarts. She knew the school like the back of her hand.

They stepped through the open doors and into the entrance hall. Anna was about to ask where they were going, but Oscar lead her just past the large, marble staircase and around behind it.

Anna was suddenly yanked forward and pushed into the hard stone. Before she could demand answers, Oscar pressed himself against her, pining her to the wall with his body as he slammed his lips to hers.

Anna was shocked for a second before she shoved her hands against his shoulders, mumbling, "Stop!"

Oscar pulled back and looked down at her in confusion. "Vhat?" he asked, his voice slurring slightly.

"I-I'm not-we can't-" Anna stuttered, still shoving against his shoulders until he took a step back. She was struggling to keep her memories from taking over. "It's not like that." she finally said.

"I don't understand." he told her, but he stepped back and released her.

"I'm sorry if I sent you some mixed signals or something," she told him, unable to look him in the eye, "but I'm not that kind of person. I can't just…Please understand."

Oscar sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "I…am sorry. I should have-"

Oscar was suddenly shoved back. "Get the hell away from her!" Fred snapped, moving to stand between Oscar and Anna, his wand in Oscar's face.

"Fred, no." Anna grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"What-He just attacked you!" Fred argued, looking down at her. "I saw him-"

"It-it was a misunderstanding." she stuttered.

"Misunderstanding my arse." Fred snapped, turning to glare at Oscar again.

Oscar looked guiltily at Anna from around Fred's shoulder. "I deeply apologize, Annabelle. I'm…feeling out of sorts. I just thought…But it's no excuse."

Anna swallowed a lump in her throat. She couldn't say 'it's alright', so she simply nodded.

"I shall leave you alone. Have a good night." he told her, nodding to Fred before returning to the Great Hall.

Anna took a deep breath, closing her eyes and covering her face with both hands to compose herself.

Fred slipped his wand back into his pocket before turning to Anna. He lifted his hands to cup her face, one hand brushing her hair from her face. When he heard her breath catch in her throat, he gently slipped his arm around her shoulders and silently lead her out the large front doors. There were fairy lights made of real fairies in the rose garden they entered, as well as bushes, ornamental paths, and large stone statues. In the middle was a large stone reindeer fountain.

Fred lead Anna to a carved bench and gently urged her to sit on it before kneeling on the cold stone path in front of her.

"Anna, look at me." he whispered, gently taking her wrists and pulling her hands away from her face. She let him, revealing her pale face. She sniffled slightly, looking down to avoid Fred's eyes. He lifted a hand and swiped a thumb under her eye, catching a single tear that was about to fall and brushing it away. "Are you sure he didn't hurt you?" he whispered, his eyes looking her over.

Anna shook her head.

"Anna please, talk to me." Fred pleaded, one hand going up to cup the side of her head, his thumb brushing her cheek. "Did he scare you? I'm sorry I wasn't there sooner. I should've stopped him before he even laid a hand on you."

Anna finally looked down at him, searching his worried expression.

"S'not your fault." she whispered. "I'm sorry-"

"Anna-"

"No, you were right." she told him, starting to cry. "He may have apologized, but…I should've listened to-"

"No, no I wasn't. Don't say that." Fred told her sternly.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked, wiping her cheek with her hand as she looked at him in confusion. "Of course you were right. He just-"

"I know what he just tried to do." Fred told her, looking down and taking her other hand in his, their skin growing cold in the winter breeze blowing in from the lake. "And any other time I'd love to brag about being right…But not this time."

"Why?" Anna whispered, no longer crying.

"Because…Because I didn't like you being around him…I didn't really have a reason not to trust him. I mean, George didn't trust him either, but I overreacted, and even George has told me that. To be honest,…I was such a prat to you about talking to him because…I was jealous." he admitted in a whisper.

"Jealous of what?" Anna asked in complete confusion.

Fred sighed, looking up at her and still running his thumb over the back of her hand.

"Him. Talking to you. I just…I don't know how else to say it." he admitted, looking down again for a moment. Finally, he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and said, "I like you."

There was a few moments of shocked silence as Anna stared down at him. Fred finally peaked his eyes open and looked up at her.

"You…"

"I like you. Yes. As more than a friend." Fred elaborated, looking into her eyes this time.

Anna stared at him in shock for a few seconds, her lips opening and closing even though no words came out. Finally, she managed to speak even though she wasn't sure what she was even saying.

"But…you asked Angelina to the ball. If you liked me…?"

"I…Well, I wanted to ask you." Fred admitted, slowly standing up and sitting next to her on the bench. Anna turned her body so that she could still face him, her eyes not leaving his face. "And George kept pushing me and berating me, telling me I could just ask you as friends and work out the rest another time. But then,…that Durmstrang prat asked before I could work up the nerve."

"What?" Anna's brows furrowed. "No, he didn't."

Fred turned to look at her, also looking confused. "What do you mean? Of course he did."

"Nooo." Anna drew the word out a bit as she shook her head. "He asked me _after_ you asked Ang. Like, literally, right after. Minutes after."

"What?" Fred snapped, turning a bit more to face her better, leaning forward slightly. "But-I thought-"

"When did you think he asked me?" Anna asked, sounding both bewildered and a tiny bit amused.

"Well,…on the last day of classes before the term ended, we were sitting outside Charms. He came up to you and said something, and…you kinda blushed and nodded. I just thought…" Fred trailed off, finally realizing how stupid that sounded.

Anna thought back, trying to remember what he was talking about. "Oh!" She blushed slightly. "That. Um, he was just complimenting me. Saying I looked beautiful that day. But, no he didn't ask me… _then_. After you asked Ang, I got upset and left the common room. I was just wandering aimlessly when he found me and asked me then. I shouldn't have said yes, but…honestly, I was so upset at you and George that I said yes mostly to spite you. I regretted it almost instantly."

Fred stared at her for a few seconds, his mind processing what all this meant. But then something she said stuck out. "Wait, why were you upset that I asked Ang?"

Anna blushed and looked down, wringing her hands together. "Well,…I suppose I should just say it. After all, you had the guts to admit it, I owe you that much."

Before Fred could ask what the bloody hell she was talking about, Anna blurted. "I like you, too."

Fred stared at her in shock until she hesitantly peaked up at him.

"You…Really?" he asked in disbelief.

Anna nodded slowly, chewing her lip nervously. Even though he'd admitted to liking her first, she couldn't help worrying.

Fred nodded slowly, turning to look across the garden. "Wow." he breathed.

Anna looked down at her lap.

"So,…what happens now?" she whispered, looking over at him.

Fred let out a heavy sigh, his breath a foggy, white cloud in the cold air. "Well,…I could gather up some of that legendary Gryffindor courage and ask you on an actual date." he suggested, turning to look down at her.

She stared at him with wide eyes. "You really want to?" she asked in surprise.

"'Course." he said with a casual shrug, as if it were no big deal. "Do you?" he asked, hiding his nervousness.

"I…I don't know." she admitted, looking down again.

"Wanna talk about it first?" Fred offered gently, scooting over and wrapping an arm around her when he saw her shiver.

"It's just that…you and George and Charlie are my best friends. And Harry and Ron are friends, and I'm friends with Ginny and Hermione, and our mums are friends, and…If we tried dating and it didn't work out…"

"Yeah, I know. I brought that up when George and Charlie started pestering me about asking you out." Fred agreed.

"George and Charlie?" Anna repeated, looking up at him in confusion.

"Yeah. Day of the first task. That's when I finally realized I liked you." Fred admitted. "Apparently they saw it way before me and called me out on it. I gave your same reasoning. But at the same time…you know it's not like they'd drop you if we didn't work out." he pointed out. "They care about you, too, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Anna nodded.

"And…Charlie did make a good point about one thing."

"Charlie, the guy who hasn't had a girlfriend in, what-five years?" Anna retorted with a small grin.

Fred laughed. "Yeah, I know. But he still had a good point. We're best friends. I view you almost like another George, and he sees you the same. That's how close we are. We know each other better than anyone else. There's, logically, no reason we couldn't make a relationship work. If anything, we've maybe got a better chance at making it work then some people."

Anna nodded her head slowly. "Yeah, that's true, I guess."

"How about this?" Fred offered, pulling her closer and shifting his jacket around her to keep her warm. "If we tried dating, we make our friendship our top priority. Above everything, I'm your best friend, and vice versa. If you have problems, you come to me just like we used to, not as a boyfriend, but as a friend. Would that help?"

Anna nodded. "Yeah,…I'd like that."

Fred grinned. "Great. Any other problems you want to discuss?"

"Not that I can think of." she answered honestly, "And if I think of any later, I'll tell you."

Fred grinned approvingly down at her. "Good. So, does that mean you'll go on a date with me sometime?"

Anna blushed, smiling shyly down at her lap before looking up at him. "Yeah, I'd like that."

"Great." Fred beamed at her. "I'll work out a specific day and time later. But right now, it's getting pretty cold. You wanna head inside? We could stop in the kitchens and get hot chocolate and just hang out in the common room for a while?" he offered.

"Mm. You have no idea how tempting that is." she told him earnestly, leaning her head on his shoulder and snuggling into his side to keep warm. "However,…I seem to recall I promised you a dance. And I should probably keep that promise."

"Are you sure?" Fred asked gently, rubbing her arm with his hand to keep her warm. "I mean, I'd understand if you don't want to go back in there after what happened earlier."

"Yeah, but…you'll be there." she answered simply. "And I want to dance with you."

Fred smothered a smug grin. "How about we dance in the common room instead?"

Anna smiled. "I'd love that."

"Great. Let me just let George know where we're going and then we can stop in the kitchens to get our drinks."

"Perfect."

Fred took Anna's hand and pulled her to her feet before releasing her hand and leading her back into the warm castle. They wove in and out of the crowd until they found their friends sitting at a table, drinking butterbeer and laughing. George looked up as Fred and Anna reached them.

"Georgie, we're going to the common room. Just so you don't wonder where we've disappeared to." Fred told him.

George looked between them curiously. "Alright. But won't your dates wonder where you've gotten off to?"

"Angelina looks perfectly fine." Fred pointed out, gesturing to where Angelina was laughing hysterically with Alicia and Katie. "And Anna's date…he's doing his own thing." Fred finally answered. George raised both brows, glancing at Anna. She could tell he'd be demanding a better explanation another time.

"Alright. Well, have a good time, then. But not too much." he added with a smirk. Anna smacked his shoulder before following Fred out of the Great Hall. When they reached the entrance hall, Anna paused to slip her heels off her feet, letting them swing from her fingers as they walked to the kitchens. After a few moments of walking, Fred reached over and took Anna's hand, just holding it as they walked. It felt both new and like they'd been doing it their whole lives.

They stopped in the kitchens and got a couple mugs of hot chocolate to-go, which they carried up to the common room.

"Well, the mugs have a Warming Charm on them." Fred commented as they entered the common room. He set both mugs on the end table and waved his wand at a radio across the room. Soon, a slow song started playing from the wireless device. "Now, before we change into our warm, comfy pajamas, I would like to dance with you while we're still in these ridiculous outfits."

"Ridiculous outfits, huh?" Anna repeated with a laugh while Fred took her hand and spun her under his arm.

"Well, mine's ridiculous. Yours is beautiful." Fred corrected, smiling cheekily at her.

Anna blushed while Fred pulled her closer, one hand on her waist while his other holding her hand. They danced silently for almost half the song before Fred spoke.

"I can't believe all this could've been prevented if I'd just worked up the nerve to ask you to the ball myself." Fred murmured to her. "We could've been dancing together, just like this, all night. And you wouldn't have been attacked."

"Yeah,…but we may not have come clean about liking each other." Anna pointed out quietly. "We don't know what could've happened."

"I'm pretty sure someone would've forced it out of us." Fred told her with a smirk. "I think George was about ready to lock us in a broom cupboard together until I admitted it. He was getting pretty frustrated."

"I think Ginny figured it out, too. Well, not that I liked you specifically. But she kept trying to set me up with either you, George, or Charlie." Anna admitted with a laugh.

Fred grinned, shaking his head in amusement. "Figures. She always was a nosy little troublemaker."

"She takes after her brothers." Anna teased.

Fred narrowed his eyes playfully. His hand shifted to her ribs and he tickled her there. Squeaking, Anna tried to wiggle away from him, but he slipped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. Instead of scaring her like that same action would've done with Oscar, she felt safe. It was an act of affection, not a threat. With them being closer, Anna's arm slipped higher up Fred's shoulder, her arm draped loosely around his neck.

"I should really get back at my wonderfully-meddling twin." Fred mused after a few moments. "I happen to know he fancies someone, too, he just won't admit it. I'll have to do something with that."

"Ooh, do tell! Who does little Georgie like?" Anna asked eagerly.

Fred chuckled. "Promise not to tell I told you?"

"I solemnly swear." she told him honestly.

"I think he has a little thing for Katie Bell." Fred admitted. "He hasn't admitted anything out loud, but I know my twin. It may not be as serious as how I feel about you, but he does like her."

"Interesting." Anna said with a small smirk. "Can I tell _you_ a secret?"

Fred smirked at her. "If you'd like. I promise I won't tell anyone."

"Well," she made a show of looking around the empty common room before looking back up at him, "Katie _might_ like George a little bit, too."

Fred's smirk widened. "Well, then, we might just have to do something about that, huh?"

"Possibly."

They danced for the duration of one more song before Fred suggested changing.

"How about we change into our pajamas and meet back down here? I don't know about you, but this monkey suit is choking me."

Anna laughed. "Yeah, same here."

They both hurried up to their dormitories and changed into their pajamas before returning. Anna plopped down on the couch next to Fred, picking up her mug and holding it in both hands to keep warm. Fred put one arm over the back of the couch behind her, his fingers brushing her shoulder. Instead of tensing, as she'd done with Oscar, she snuggled into the space under his arm.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked before taking a sip of her cocoa.

"Of course." Fred answered easily, looking down at her.

"If you realized you liked me just after the first task,…when do you think you started liking me?"

"Hm." Fred thought about it as he took a drink of his own cocoa. "Well, George reckons it was sometime last year, which makes sense when I think about it. But other than that, it gets kinda blurry. I mean, I've always cared about you, but it's hard to separate when I cared about you as my best friend, and when those feelings started to change."

Anna nodded. "Yeah, I can see how that'd be difficult."

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Anna countered, looking up at him.

"When did you realize you liked me, and when do you think it started?" Fred asked.

"Oh, that. Well, Hermione actually made me figure it out that day you asked Ang in the common room. Hermione followed me and helped me put the pieces together, so to speak. And…I'm not sure when it started. Like you said, it gets kinda blurry. But it was probably sometime last year, like you said."

Fred nodded. "Everyone's probably going to freak out when we tell 'em." he chuckled.

"Oh, gosh." Anna covered her eyes with one hand. "Yes, they definitely are." She let her hand return to her mug and looked up at him again. "Do you think…well, obviously George and all our friends, and probably Ron and Ginny are all going to find out. But do you think other than that we could wait a bit before we tell our families? Especially our parents."

Fred took a breath. "That's probably a good idea. Knowing my mum, she'll start planning a wedding or something equally ridiculous."

"Yeah. And I don't want too much…outside influence, you know? I just want us to take this at a pace we're comfortable with, without people butting in. And I want to make sure we're going to work before we tell our parents."

"No problem." Fred squeezed her closer, rubbing her shoulder with his hand. "But you know, I think we'll work out just fine."

Anna smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Me, too."

They sat there and talked about random things until almost midnight. People had been trickling in for the last hour and making their ways up to their dormitories. When Fred looked down, he noticed Anna was dozing off on his shoulder.

"Hey." he whispered, leaning down so his mouth was near her hair. "Anna, we should probably get to bed. You're about to fall asleep, and unfortunately I can't carry you to bed."

Anna groaned and slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, her eyes still closed. "Okay." she grumbled, slowing forcing her eyes to open.

Fred silently chuckled at her, waving his wand to vanish their empty mugs that were sitting on the table. Standing up, he reached down and gently pulled Anna to her feet by her arms. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he lead her to the girls' staircase.

"You gunna be okay getting up the stairs?" he asked, mildly amused.

Anna nodded sleepily, rubbing her eye with her hand. She smiled slightly up at him, honestly looking adorable.

"See you tomorrow." Fred told her. "And I'll try to at least have a day picked for our date."

Anna smiled. "I look forward to it."

Fred leaned down and kissed her cheek, making her blush. "Night." he whispered into her ear.

Swallowing, Anna smiled shyly up at him. "Goodnight."

With that, Anna turned and slowly stumbled her way up the stairs. When she reached her dormitory, she saw that her friends hadn't returned yet, the only other girl in the room, Patricia Stimpson, was asleep in her bed.

Anna flopped down on her bed, sighing both happily and sleepily. This night turned into one of the best Christmases _ever_.


	25. New Year, New Relationship

Annabelle got to sleep in the next day, and it felt wonderful. That is, until she was rudely awakened.

"Anna! Anna, wake up!"

Anna's world suddenly start bouncing and she was lurched awake, sitting up and looking around in alarm. When she saw Katie, Angelina, and Alicia sitting on her bed, she groaned and fell back against her pillow.

"What do you want? I was asleep!" she whined.

"Obviously, that's why we said to wake up." Angelina pointed out.

"We need to know what happened between you and Fred last night." Katie explained.

Anna blushed, but looked at them innocently. "What makes you think something happened?"

They gave her a look.

"Don't play dumb. We saw you two leave together, so speak." Angelina demanded.

Anna sighed, sitting up and pulling her pillow into her lap, hugging it to her chest.

"Alright, alright…Yes, something happened." she admitted.

"And?" Katie urged when she didn't continue.

"Well,…do you want the long version or the short version?" Anna asked, partially to mess with them.

They exchanged a look before turning back to her.

"Depends. What's the short version?" Alicia asked curiously.

"Um,…Fred asked me out." Anna summed up.

The girls all squealed instantly, making Anna laugh and cover her face with her pillow.

"Shut up! He finally did it?" Katie screamed, slapping Anna on the arm.

"Ow! What do you mean 'finally'?" Anna asked, still laughing.

"Oh, please, he's liked you for ages." Angelina told her as if it were common knowledge.

Anna blushed, looking down shyly.

"Alright, now I think we need the long version." Alicia announced, to which the other two nodded frantically.

Anna quickly went through the events from the Oscar incident to Fred and Anna saying goodnight.

"Aw! Why didn't he kiss you on the lips?" Katie whined.

Anna glared at her. "We're taking it slow. Which reminds me, can we not make a big deal out of this? We want to wait a little bit before we tell our parents. Merlin knows his mum will freak out. We joked last night she'll probably start planning our wedding as soon as she finds out."

"Please," Angelina scoffed, "she's probably been planning your marriage to one of the Weasley boys since your second year."

They all laughed, admitting she had a point.

"And honestly, if you two hadn't disappeared when you did, we had a whole, detailed plan set up to get you two together." Katie admitted with a huge smile.

Anna eyed her warily. "And what did this 'detailed plan' entail?" she asked slowly.

"Well, nothing too horrible." Katie assured her. "First, we were going to get you guys to dance to a slow, romantic song."

Well, that didn't seem too bad.

"And if that didn't work, we were going to slip some Truth Potion into your guys' drinks and make the confession come out that way." Katie continued.

And there it was.

"I can't believe you would slip me and Fred a Truth Potion!" Anna exclaimed. "Wait, no, I take it back. I can believe it." she admitted, making the other girls laugh.

They talked for a few more minutes about how the other girls' experience at the ball went before deciding to head downstairs. It was nearing noon and they were all getting hungry.

They dressed in comfy clothes and Anna threw her hair, still the same almost-black color as the night before, into a ponytail to get it out of her face. When they reached the common room, they saw a lot of people just lounging around the room, lazily talking among their friends.

Anna saw Hermione, Harry, and Ron in one corner, Hermione's hair bushy once again. Even though she was talking easily with Harry, something about her posture seemed tense, and Anna noticed Ron seemed grumpy. Figuring she'd ask about it later, Anna followed the other girls to where Fred, George, and Lee were sitting on the couches.

"Finally!" George exclaimed when they showed up. "We were wondering when you'd come down! We're starving here!"

"Oh, shut it." Angelina told him, smacking the back of his head.

"You could've gone down without us." Alicia pointed out as the guys stood up and the group headed for the portrait hole.

"We would've, but little Freddie thought of an idea for his and Anna's _date_ and couldn't wait to talk to her." George explained with a smirk.

Fred glared at his twin while Anna blushed, Lee and the girls laughing at them.

"I was _not_ that bad!" Fred denied.

"Yeah right!" Lee laughed. "You were practically bouncing off the walls when you thought it up!"

Fred glared at him again, his ears turning red.

"Leave him alone." Anna told them, regretting it when the attention was suddenly on her.

"You should've heard him up in our dormitory this morning." George teased, throwing his arm over her shoulder as they walked down the corridor. "'She's going to love this! I can't wait to see the look on her face!'" he mimicked in a higher-pitched voice than was necessary. The others laughed while Anna jabbed her elbow into his ribs and Fred whacked him on the back of the head.

George laughed, hurrying ahead to avoid anymore blows. The others hurried after him, leaving Fred and Anna to walk at a more leisurely pace.

Fred scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, his cheeks and ears still red. "They were exaggerating. I wasn't that bad."

Anna grinned, stepping closer and nudging him with her elbow. "I know. But it'd be endearing if you were." she joked, peaking up at him.

He grinned, waiting a moment before reaching over and holding her hand. "Anyway,…are you doing anything on New Years Eve?"

Anna looked up at him with a small smile, having an idea where he was going with this. "Not that I know of. I probably would've just hung out with you, George, and the others, setting off fireworks and stuff. Unless you've got any better ideas?"

Fred grinned again. "Maybe. I was wondering if you'd like to have our date that night?"

"Sure. Any specific time or details I need to know?"

"Hmm. Dress comfy, maybe a little warm, but we're not going outside so you won't really need winter clothes. And meet me in the common room around…7:30. And don't eat anything beforehand, because we're eating dinner."

"Got it." Anna nodded once. "Can't wait."

"Me either." Fred admitted.

XXX

"You still haven't finished your homework?" Hermione asked incredulously, sitting down next to Anna at a table in the common room.

Anna looked up and stuck her tongue out. "Shut up. In case you haven't noticed, everyone in this room apart from you is working on homework. And this is my last assignment, and I'm almost done. So," she stuck her tongue out again and blew a raspberry as the younger girl.

Hermione smirked. "Real mature." she joked.

"I know." Anna agreed sarcastically. "So, how're things with you and Ron?" she asked casually, pretending to still be working on her History of Magic homework.

Hermione sighed. "It's still a little tense, but we just don't talk about anything that could bring the problem up."

Anna had finally approached Hermione later on the evening of December 26th. Apparently her and Ron got into a huge row about her going to the ball with Krum. It turned into a screaming match at one point.

As if their conversation had summoned him, Ron and Harry entered the common room and walked over.

"How's it going?" Anna asked them as they sat with the girls.

"Fine." Harry shrugged, sounding either bored or grumpy, it was hard to tell.

"You figured out that egg yet?" Anna asked him, already knowing the answer.

Harry rolled his eyes, now definitely looking grumpy. "No." he grumbled.

Anna gave him a look, fiddling with her quill. "Harry, you really need to start working on that. It could very well take you a good month to figure it out. Why don't you at least consider using Cedric's clue?"

Harry had told her the other day about Diggory giving him a clue on figuring the egg out, in exchange for Harry helping him with the dragons.

Harry glared at her. "I don't need his help."

"And it has nothing to do with him asking Cho to the ball before you?" Anna asked quietly, making sure only their small group overheard.

Harry blushed and glared again.

"Harry, this tournament is about more than petty teenage problems. If you don't figure this clue out in time, it could very well cost you your life." Anna pointed out seriously.

Before Harry could respond, Katie came rushing over.

"Anna, what are you doing?" she demanded urgently.

Anna started, looking at her in confusion. "Um, homework? Why?"

"You need to get ready! It's almost seven!" Katie told her as if this should be obvious.

Anna glanced over at the clock, and sure enough, it was almost seven.

Turning back to Katie, she asked, "So?"

" _So_? Fred said he'd pick you up at 7:30." Katie reminded her. "You need to get ready!"

Anna rolled her eyes. "He also said to wear something comfortable." She sat back and gestured to her outfit of her Weasley jumper and jeans. "I'm wearing something comfortable."

"But you have to wear something a little nicer than that!" Katie insisted. "And at least brush your hair. This is your first date!"

Anna groaned, letting her head drop to the table with a _thump_.

"Wait, what? Date? What are you talking about?" Anna looked up to see Ron looking between them in confusion. Harry's expression was similar.

"Anna and Fred are going on a date." Hermione answered simply.

"What?" Ron and Harry exclaimed together, looking at Anna in surprise.

"You and Fred? Since when?" Ron demanded.

"The Yule Ball." she answered quietly. "What's it matter to you?"

"Does Sirius know?" Harry asked curiously.

Anna blushed. "No." she answered slowly. "Not yet. We want to wait a little bit before we tell our parents. We don't want to make a big deal out of it. So don't tell anyone."

Ron suddenly smirked a little bit, a strange glint in his eye.

"Ron." Anna said warningly.

"So, our mum doesn't know about this?" he checked, still smirking.

"No, and don't you dare tell her." Anna warned him.

"Why not? She'll want to know, and she won't be pleased about Fred keeping it a secret. So maybe I should-"

"Maybe you should _what_ , Ickle Ronniekins?" a familiar voice asked.

Anna looked up between Harry and Ron's heads, while they turned to look over their shoulders, Ron's face going a bit pale. Fred and George were standing there smirking viciously at their little brother, Fred being the one who had spoken.

"I don't think you should interfere with things that are not your concern, little bro." George warned him, still smirking. "You wouldn't want us to… _retaliate_ , would you?"

Ron swallowed thickly. "Um, well, I was just saying,…Mum would want to know."

"And she will know. Eventually." Fred told him, glancing at Anna before looking back at Ron. "But we haven't even made anything official yet. No one needs to know any details yet. Right?" he asked, looking threateningly between Harry and Ron, who nodded frantically. "Good."

Anna smiled, smothering any laughter by looking down at her homework. Deciding there was no way she was going to finish it with these distractions, she started putting her things away.

"Well, I'm going to go up to my dormitory. To, you know, get ready." She blushed as she stood up, everyone around their table looking at her now. "I'll see you in a little bit." she told Fred as she passed them, heading for the dormitory stairs.

She reached her dormitory, only realizing Katie followed her when the fifth year shut the door behind her.

"Okay, so you think I need something nicer than this?" Anna checked, going to her trunk at the foot of her bed.

"Yep." Katie nodded, plopping down on her stomach on Anna's bed.

Anna knelt on the ground and shifted through her trunk before pulling out another jumper, this one light gray and a little tighter than normal. "What about this?"

"I've never seen you wear that! Is it new?" Katie asked, snatching it and looking at it herself.

"No, I just prefer my jumpers a little…bigger and warmer and comfier." Anna answered with a shrug, looking back in her trunk. "What about these jeans? They're a little nicer than the ones I'm wearing." she said, holding up another pair of jeans. These were a darker navy than the ones she was wearing, and they were a bit tighter.

Katie looked at them, her head tilted slightly. "You won't consider wearing a skirt?"

"It's bleeding December, Katie!" Anna exclaimed.

"Alright, alright, I was just asking. Yes, those jeans look nice. Change into this." she ordered, tossing the jumper back to Anna so she could change.

Anna quickly stripped out of her clothes and pulled her tighter jumper over her head, and then pulling her jeans up her legs. It all took a bit more wrestling than she preferred, but the clothes were still comfy.

"Okay, now hair. Are you going to do anything with it, change it up or anything?" Katie asked, passing Anna her hairbrush.

Anna ran her brush through her hair, looking to the side at her reflection in the vanity mirror across the room. "I don't know. I think I'm going to keep my hair color, but…should I straighten it?" She still had her hair the nearly-black color she'd picked for the ball.

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen you with actually straight hair." Katie mused thoughtfully.

Anna lowered her brush and squinted at her reflection. Her wavy hair straightened itself out, laying flat against her back and shining in the room light.

"Ooh. Pretty! I like it." Katie decided, bouncing lightly on the bed.

"Thanks." Anna smiled, glancing over at the clock on the wall. "And, see? That all took ten minutes. Would it be weird if I went down twenty minutes early?" she asked, suddenly a little nervous. After all, she was new to the 'rules of dating'.

"Mm. Maybe wait a little bit. Like ten minutes? Being ten minutes early isn't a big deal." Katie suggested.

"Hm. Okay…So, what are you guys all going to do to celebrate New Years?" Anna asked, wanting to kill the time.

They spent the next ten minutes talking about anything to pass the time, until finally Katie deemed it an acceptable time to head back down to the common room.

Katie went down ahead of her, and when Anna's feet touched the common room floor, she realized all their friends were already looking at her.

Anna blushed, sticking her hands in her jean pockets. She looked around awkwardly before finally looking over at Fred, who was smiling at her.

"Aw, you playing shy, Annabelle?" George teased her.

"Shut up." she mumbled, glaring at him.

"Leave her alone." Katie smacked George's shoulder, leaning back against the couch next to him. "It's her first date. She's a little nervous." she added, teasing Anna herself.

Anna glared at her. "You can shut up, too."

Fred chuckled. "Well, it's a little early, but you wanna get going now?"

"Sure." Anna nodded with a smile.

Fred approached her and took her hand in his. As he lead her toward the portrait hole, Lee and George whistled and catcalled after them.

"Don't have too much fun!" Lee called, causing Harry, Ron, and Angelina to laugh.

"Shut up!" Fred called over his shoulder before the portrait swung shut behind them.

"Our friends kinda suck." Anna announced as they made their way down the corridor.

Fred laughed, gently squeezing her hand in his. "Just a bit."

"So, where are we going?" Anna asked curiously.

Fred chuckled. "I knew you'd ask that in less than a minute of leaving the common room." he admitted, making Anna elbow him in the ribs. "I'm not telling you, because it's a surprise. In a little bit I'm going to blindfold you so it can be a surprise. Relax. I'm sure you'll like it."

"I'm sure I will, too." Anna agreed, squeezing Fred's hand in turn.

They walked to the entrance hall before Fred stopped and turned to face her. He released her hand and pulled a red blindfold from his pocket with a smirk.

Anna rolled her eyes. "Oh, fine. Go ahead."

Still smirking, Fred walked around her until he was facing her back. He draped the fabric over her eyes and tied it at the back of her head.

"If you use this to prank me, I'll kill you." Anna warned him.

"No pranks tonight. Well, not on you." Fred assured her with a smirk, tying the knot. "Tonight's just a romantic evening."

"Sounds nice." Anna whispered.

"It does." Fred agreed. "Now, I'm going to help you onto my back. It'd be quicker than trying to lead you there."

"Okay." Anna said uncertainly. Fred lead her hands to his back as he crouched in front of her. Carefully, Anna hopped onto his back. His hands went under her legs and her arms wrapped loosely around his neck.

They walked for a while, Anna wasn't even sure how long they walked, or where they were going. She could tell they were going up lots of stairs.

"Are we there yet?"

"So impatient." Fred teased. "What are you complaining about? _I'm_ the one walking!"

"Are you saying I'm fat?" Anna joked.

"'Course not. You're light as a feather. Of course, that could be my enormous Beater's muscles."

"Someone's full of himself." Anna muttered jokingly.

Fred paused for a second before there was the creak of a door opening. Fred walked forward a few steps before he turned and closed the door.

"I'm setting you down now, okay?" Fred told her. "Don't take off the blindfold yet."

"Okay." Anna agreed as Fred let her slide down his back until her feet touched the floor.

"Alright." Fred muttered, more to himself as he moved to Anna's side, his shoulder just slightly behind her as he fiddled with the knot on the back of her head.

Finally, Anna's vision returned as the blindfold was lifted.

Her mouth fell open as her eyes looked around the Astronomy Tower.

There were several candles floating in the air, a huge pile of red pillows near one of the windows, and a picnic basket.

"I figured a candlelit picnic on a pile of cushions sounded like something we'd do." Fred stated casually. "And I put a warming bubble around the Astronomy Tower so it won't be too cold."

"Fred, this…this is amazing." Anna stuttered, struggling to find words.

"I know." Fred agreed arrogantly.

Anna snorted, looking up at him. "And the moment is ruined." she deadpanned.

Fred laughed, taking her hand and leading her toward the pile of pillows. He kicked off his shoes before plopping down on the cushions, and Anna did the same. Fred pulled the basket closer and started getting all the food out.

"Jeez. Did you leave anything at all in the kitchens?" Anna teased after the sixth different dish was placed on the ground.

"Nope." he joked back. "I took it all."

"Darn. I guess the Slytherins will have to starve."

"No great loss." Fred shrugged.

Anna chuckled, shaking her head at him.

"What do you want to drink? Butterbeer? Tea? Pumpkin juice?" Fred offered holding up a couple flagons.

"Hm. Butterbeer for now." Anna answered.

Fred poured some from a flagon into a cup, passing it to her. It was hot and warmed her insides when she took a sip.

"So, has Harry figured his egg out yet?" Fred asked casually, putting some potatoes and beef on a plate to eat.

"No." Anna rolled her eyes. "He even got help from someone, but he refuses to accept the help because he doesn't like the person."

"Who is it?" Fred asked curiously.

Anna contemplated whether she should tell Fred or not, before deciding she should respect her god brother's privacy. "Just someone. Don't worry about it. But anyway, no, he hasn't figured it out yet. And Hermione and I keep telling him he's running out of time."

"Ah, he's got plenty of time." Fred waved her off before taking a bite of beef.

"Says the king of procrastination." Anna teased.

"Co-king." Fred corrected, pointing his fork at her. "George is just as bad."

They talked and laughed while they ate, the feeling as casual as their friendship had always been. As they were finishing their meal, they reclined into more comfortable positions on the pillows, laying side-by-side.

"So, I was thinking we could take tonight as a chance to discuss things." Fred announced casually, his arms behind his head as he looked up at the stars through the window.

"Oh? Like what?" Anna asked, turning on her side and using her arm as a pillow for her head.

"Like…this is a date. Does that mean,…are we boyfriend and girlfriend? Or do you want to wait a while before we say that? Go on a few more dates first?"

"Hmm." Anna hummed thoughtfully, turning her head to look out at the night sky. "Well,…whatever you'd like, I guess. I'm fine either way."

"Anna." Fred turned his head to give her a stern look. "We're a duo, a partnership. We should make decisions as a team. What do you want in this relationship?"

Anna blushed, looking down at the pillows beneath her. "Well,…I like what we have, but…I'd also like to see where… _this_ takes us." she answered, waving her hand between the pair of them.

"So,…if I asked you to be my girlfriend at the end of the night, you'd say yes?" Fred checked.

Anna nodded. "I'd probably say yes if you asked right now." she admitted.

"Well, I would, but I want us to complete at least one date before we make anything official."

"Aw, you're so sweet." Anna teased, even though it was true.

"I know. Aren't you lucky?" Fred teased back, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into his side.

The contact made Anna think of something and she tensed slightly. She tried to stop herself, but Fred noticed, feeling her muscles tensing against him. He looked worriedly down at her.

"What's wrong?"

Anna chewed her lip, debating if she even wanted to say it. After all, this was their first date. It wasn't something to worry about for a while…hopefully.

"Anna, what are you thinking about?" Fred asked in concern.

"Well,…I know it's not something to worry about for a while, but…"

"What?" Fred urged gently when she trailed off, rubbing his hand over her arm.

Anna sighed, resting her head against his shoulder. "You know the thing Flint did to me?"

It was Fred's turn to tense and Anna felt horrible for potentially ruining their date.

"You think I would…?"

"No, that's not it." Anna shook her head frantically. "I know you, and I trust you. I know you'd never…force yourself on me. But…"

"You're worried about sex." Fred summed up slowly.

Anna nodded slowly. "I guess,…I'm just worried I'll freak out or have a panic attack if we try anything like that in the future."

"Well, it's not something you need to worry about for a while, yet." Fred assured her. "We're not going to reach that step for a while. We'll take it one step at a time. Whatever you're comfortable with. You just need to let me know what that is, okay? If you think you're not ready for something, let me know. Because I don't want to scare you."

Anna nodded in agreement. "I'm sorry for bringing it up."

"Don't be. I said I wanted to use this opportunity to discuss things. And this is exactly what I was talking about. We need to get this stuff out in the open."

"Okay." Anna nodded, smiling slightly as she scooted closer, snuggling into the space under his arm.

They talked about small, unimportant things for a while before Fred sat up.

"You want some dessert?"

"There's more food in there?" Anna asked incredulously, sitting up and grinning in amusement.

"Of course." Fred stated promptly, digging a bunch of stuff out of the basket. Chocolate Frogs, Every Flavor Beans, cake, and ice cream.

"You pulled out all the stops, didn't you?" Anna asked in amusement, grabbing a Chocolate Frog.

"Obviously." Fred grinned, grabbing a slice of cake.

They nibbled for a while before Anna grabbed the box of beans. "Catch," was all she said before picking a random bean and tossing it.

Fred barely managed to lean back and catch it in his mouth. He chewed and grimaced in disgust.

"I don't know what that is,…but I think it's Belly Button Lint." he mumbled, swallowing and shuddering in disgust. "Your turn." he leaned over and grabbed a random bean. He leaned back and tossed it. Anna leaned her head up and caught it in her mouth. She chewed on it thoughtfully for a moment before swallowing.

"Mashed Potatoes."

"No fair!"

"Here's another one." Anna picked another bean and tossed it. Fred rolled onto his back, but still managed to catch it.

"Much better." He said as he rolled back onto his bum. "Cinnamon."

They continued back and forth until the box was empty, both getting good flavors like Sugared Violet, Peppermint, and Chocolate and gross flavors like Horseradish, Troll Bogey, and Earthworm.

When the box was empty, Anna put it back in the basket while Fred grabbed the last Chocolate Frog.

"Hey, no fair! You already had four of those! I only got one!" Anna complained.

"What're you going to do about it?" Fred teased, waving the box in front of his face.

Anna smirked, standing up slowly. She suddenly darted for him and he jumped up and bolted to the other side of the room.

They both laughed as they raced around the room, darting around the telescopes. Fred took a sharp turn and barely dodged Anna's outstretched fingers. When they neared the pillows again, Anna threw herself into his back, sending them both tumbling onto the pillows.

They were laughing hysterically. Fred rolled over onto his back, keeping his hand with the frog outstretched while she tried to reach it.

"No fair!" she laughed. His arm wrapped around her waist to keep her from getting any closer. She made one last effort to stretch before flopping down against his stomach, her arms folded atop his chest.

That's when she noticed their position and blushed. Fred smiled endearingly.

"You're cute when you blush." he teased.

"Shut up." Anna laughed, slapping his chest as she tried to hide her face.

"Just speaking the truth, here, love. Nothing wrong with that, is there?"

Anna lifted her head and looked thoughtfully down at his face.

"Guess not." she whispered. She was contemplatively silent for a few moments before whispering, "Fred?"

"Hmm?"

"Remember when you said I should let you know what I think I'm ready for?" she asked uncertainly.

"I do, because I only said that a couple hours ago." Fred nodded slowly.

"What if…?" Anna trailed off and bit her lip nervously.

"Yes?" Fred urged with a knowing smile.

"What if I wanted…if I wanted you to kiss me?" she asked uncertainly, her face bright red.

Fred's grin widened. "Well,…I'd say for the first kiss, you'd have to instigate it."

"Why?" Anna whined, squirming uncomfortably and looking down at his jumper.

"So that way you can decide what you're comfortable with." Fred answered easily.

"But…I've never kissed anyone before. Well, not of my own free will." she amended. "I don't know how."

"Well, what a coincidence. Neither have I." Fred pointed out with a smug grin.

"Oh yeah." Anna muttered, having forgotten that. Since they'd been best friends since first year, she would've known by now if he'd kissed anyone.

"Come on. You trust me, right? What's the worst that could happen?"

"I'm rubbish at it?" Anna suggested quietly.

"Then we just practice till you aren't rubbish at it." Fred responded, still smirking.

Anna laughed quietly, burying her face in his chest. "You're going to keep pushing this, aren't you?"

Fred wrapped his arms around her lower back, the Chocolate Frog forgotten. "I'm not going to force you to kiss me. But if you want a kiss, I want you to be the one to instigate it. Come on, where's that legendary Gryffindor courage? I know you've got plenty of it, I've seen it." he urged, poking at her ribs and making her squirm because it tickled.

"Alright, alright." Anna laughed, lifting her head from his chest.

Fred looked up at her, still grinning as she looked back down at him.

Taking a deep breath, Anna leaned up toward him, closed her eyes, and pressed her lips to his. She wasn't sure what to do beyond that, but then Fred lifted his hand to gently brush his fingers across her cheek and began moving his lips against hers.

It only lasted a few seconds, but it was the best feeling in the world. Anna almost felt breathless when they pulled away, simply because of the feeling it left.

"See? You're a natural." Fred whispered, his warm breath washing over her face.

Anna blushed, her smile wide as she ducked her head to rest her forehead against his.

A loud _boom_ interrupted their moment and they pulled away to look out the window, the Astronomy Tower being lit up with brilliant colors. All kinds of fireworks were lighting up the night sky, the words 'HAPPY NEW YEAR' appearing in a burst of colorful sparks.

Fred chuckled. "Happy New Year." he whispered, looking back up at Anna.

She smiled in return. "Happy New Year. I see George and Lee have been busy."

"Oi! I helped them set it up!" Fred complained playfully.

"Oh, my apologies." Anna mocked.

Fred leaned up and kissed her cheek before sitting up and gently sliding her onto the pillows next to him.

"Here's your Chocolate Frog." Fred grinned, handing her the sweet.

"Gee, thanks."

They hung out for a few more minutes before deciding to call it a night. Fred cleaned everything away with a sweep of his wand and they walked quietly out of the Astronomy Tower hand-in-hand.

Anna was about to turn a corner when Fred pulled her back and they pressed against the wall. A second later, Filch went blundering past with his cat. Anna and Fred exchanged a grin before continuing around the corner.

Only to run into their Head of House.

Anna stared up at Professor McGonagall with wide eyes, just knowing they were about to get into trouble.

"Oh. Hi, Professor." Fred beamed innocently.

"Mr. Weasley. Ms. Black. Is there any particular reason you're out wandering the castle three hours after curfew?" she asked tersely.

"Actually, it's three hours and twenty-two minutes, Professor-"

"Fred!" Anna hissed, yanking on his hand. "Sorry, Professor, he doesn't have a filter."

"We were just on a date. That's why we're out. We were heading back to the common room, now." Fred answered.

McGonagall glanced between the two, her eyebrows raised just slightly.

"I see. Very well. You two better get along to your common room, then. And no dillydallying along the way."

"Yes, Professor." they both chorused, hurrying past her and down the corridor.

They laughed most of the way back to the Fat Lady's portrait, running up all the flights of stairs until they could pant the password and stumble into the common room.

"I thought we'd get a detention for sure." Anna laughed breathlessly.

"I think she was just too shocked that we were on a _date_." Fred laughed.

"Probably." Anna smiled.

"So, it's the end of the night." he announced pointedly.

"It is." Anna nodded once.

"So,…want to be my girlfriend?" he asked casually, tilting his head slightly.

Anna smiled. "As a matter of fact, yes I would."

"Good." Fred grinned, leaning down slightly to kiss her on the cheek.

Anna blushed, glancing down at her feet before looking back up at him. "Well, I'm actually really tired. So I'm gonna go to sleep."

"Alright. See you in the morning."

Anna smiled and took him off guard by leaning up and kissing him firmly on the lips. She felt him smile against her lips before she pulled away.

"Night." she told him casually, heading for the girls' staircase. She looked back at him once when she reached the first step, and saw him smiling at her. She smiled back, waved, and went to bed.


	26. Would your nose hair be ginger?

**Here's a bonus chapter this week in honor of Harry Potter's birthday!**

 **XXX**

The new term started about a week later, and it didn't appear to be a good start, in Anna's opinion. Due to an article Rita Skeeter wrote about Hagrid, the half-giant refused to leave his house. Thanks to this, a woman named Professor Grubbly-Plank had replaced Hagrid as the Care of Magical Creatures instructor. Anna wanted to hate this new teacher. She was a little strict, and not much fun, but she was unfortunately a good teacher, though Anna would never say so out loud. She just wanted Hagrid back.

Anna, like Harry, Ron, and Hermione, tried talking to Hagrid, but he would never open the door to his hut. She had a feeling he was in there, though, because whenever she knocked Fang would bark from inside. Hagrid wouldn't leave Fang in there all the time.

"Anna, c'mon!" George whined, pulling on Anna's arm from where she was sitting on the couch.

"Do I have to?" Anna whined in return.

"Yes!" Fred exclaimed, plopping down on the couch next to her. "You need to get your mind off everything. So come to Hogsmeade with us."

Anna sighed in defeat. "Oh, alright."

The twins cheered and Fred pulled her off the couch.

It was the first Hogsmeade trip of the term, about halfway through January. As always, Anna, Fred, and George went to Honeydukes and Zonkos before heading to the Three Broomsticks.

When they walked in, Anna's eyes instantly zeroed in on Bagman talking to Harry near the bar. Her eyes narrowed and she grabbed Fred's arm before he could walk away. Fred looked back at her before following her eyes. His also narrowed and a smirk spread over his lips.

"Oh, Georgie, look who's here." he said in a singsong voice, making his twin look in the same direction.

"Excellent." George rubbed his hands together. "Shall we offer the man a drink?"

"Remember, be polite about it. Don't attack him." Anna reminded the twins carefully as they approached the bar.

"Hello, Mr. Bagman." Fred greeted him brightly when they reached Bagman and Harry. "Can we buy you a drink?"

"Er…no." Bagman stuttered, giving Harry a disappointed glance. "No, thank you, boys…"

The twins looked disappointed, but Anna kept a careful eye on Bagman as he turned back to Harry, looking as if the young boy had disappointed him. "Well, I must dash. Nice seeing you all. Good luck, Harry."

He turned and hurried out of the pub, and Anna watched as several goblins sitting in the corner got up and followed him out the door.

Turning back to Harry, she asked, "What was that about?"

Harry shrugged. "He was offering to help me with the egg. I turned him down, don't worry."

"Why would he offer to help?" Anna asked slowly. "He's a judge. That's cheating."

Harry shrugged again. "No idea."

Anna nodded slowly. "Well, I'm gonna go with the twins. Let me know if you want any help on the egg, 'cause me helping isn't as bad as him helping."

Harry smiled. "Thanks. I'll see you later."

Anna ruffled his already-messy hair, making him laugh as he ducked away and went back to Ron and Hermione. Anna approached the bar where the twins were standing.

"Here." Fred turned and handed her a mug of warm butterbeer. "It's already paid for."

"You don't need to pay for my drink." Anna argued.

"You paid for all our product ingredients." George told her, leaning forward with his elbows on the bar to talk around his twin. "We can buy you the occasional drink."

Anna rolled her eyes. "Okay, deal." She took her mug and followed the twins to sit at a table where Lee, Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were already sitting.

"Why were you talking to Bagman?" Angelina asked curiously as they sat down.

Fred and George exchanged a look while Anna left it to them.

"Oh, just wanted to ask him about being a professional Quidditch player, but he was busy with something." Fred answered smoothly.

They talked for a while, discussing some of the things they'd bought so far in the other shops.

"Trying to ruin someone else's life?" a familiar voice asked loudly.

Anna turned, along with several people, to look across the pub, which had quieted slightly. Harry was looking challengingly at Rita Skeeter, who was sitting at a table near him with her photographer. She was disgustingly dressed in banana-yellow robes, jeweled spectacles, and had long, pink nails.

Skeeter's eyes widened when she noticed Harry before she beamed at him. "Harry! How lovely! Why don't you come and join-?"

"I wouldn't come near you with a ten-foot broomstick." Harry interrupted furiously.

Anna and George snorted while Fred grinned eagerly.

"Why did you do that to Hagrid for, eh?" he continued angrily.

Skeeter raised her heavily-penciled eyebrows. "Our readers have a right to the truth, Harry. I am merely doing my-"

"Who cares if he's half-giant?" Harry shouted. "There's nothing wrong with him!"

The whole pub was silent. Madam Rosmerta was staring from behind the bar, oblivious to the fact that the flagon she was filling was overflowing.

Skeeter's smile flickered but returned almost instantly. She snapped open her crocodile-skin handbag, pulled out a Quick-Quotes Quill, and said, "How about giving me an interview about the Hagrid _you_ know, Harry? The man behind the muscles? Your unlikely friendship and the reasons behind it. Would you call him a father substitute?"

Anna grimaced in disgust at the questions, but Hermione stood up abruptly from her spot by Harry, a butterbeer clutched in her hand as if she were prepared to throw it.

"You horrible woman," she said through gritted teeth, "you don't care, do you, anything for a story, and anyone will do, won't they? Even Ludo Bagman-"

"Sit down, you silly little girl, and don't talk about things you don't understand." Skeeter interrupted in a cold voice, her eyes hardening on Hermione. "I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl… _not_ that it needs it-" she added, her eyes on Hermione's hair.

"Let's go, c'mon, Harry-Ron…" Hermione urged, leading her friends out of the pub.

Anna glared at Skeeter for a moment before turning back to her friends; something the horrible woman had said stuck out in Anna's mind.

"Did you guys catch what Skeeter said?" she asked quietly as the noise began to return to normal. She spoke mainly to Fred and George, though she didn't really try to hide it from her other friends. "She said, 'I know things about Ludo Bagman that would make your hair curl'. What do you think she's talking about?"

Fred and George narrowed their eyes thoughtfully, clearly the statement hadn't caught their attention as much as it had Anna's.

"Don't know." Fred murmured thoughtfully. "We'll have to keep that in mind."

XXX

Hagrid was back in classes the following Monday, but Anna unfortunately didn't have Care of Magical Creatures until Thursday. But the second she saw him on Thursday, she gave him a big hug and told him how glad she was that he was back.

Hagrid continued Grubbly-Plank's lessons, which Anna had to admit were a bit better than his usual lessons.

On Friday, Anna was eating breakfast and talking with Fred and George about a new product they were working on when Harry suddenly sat down next to her.

"I figured it out." he whispered so only she could hear.

"You did?" she whispered back, turning to face him as he served himself breakfast. "What is it? How'd you do it?"

"I went to the prefect bathroom, like Cedric told me. I had to go under the water and the screeching was actually a song. It said:

" _Come seek us where our voices sound,_

 _We cannot sing above the ground,_

 _And while you're searching, ponder this:_

 _We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_

 _An hour long you'll have to look,_

 _And to recover what we took,_

 _But past an hour-the prospect's black,_

 _Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."_

When he finished reciting Anna nodded slowly, even though most of the words had already gone in one ear and out the other.

"Okay. Have you figured it out yet?" she finally asked.

"Yeah, I figure it's about the merpeople in the Black Lake. I think they're going to steal something that I need to get back, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to hold my breath for an hour." he explained.

Anna chewed her bacon thoughtfully, trying to wrack her brain for any possible potions or spells that may help.

"Can't think of anything for that off the top of my head, but we should be able to find something." she murmured thoughtfully.

"Oh, and I, um, let Moody borrow the map." Harry added somewhat awkwardly. When Anna looked at him in confusion, he hurried to explain, "Moody got me out of trouble with Snape and Filch last night, and he asked if he could borrow the map. He…also suggested I look into becoming an Auror."

Anna smiled. "I can see you being an Auror. You know, my cousin, Tonks, is an Auror. If you ever have any questions about it, I could write to her for you."

"That'd be great, thanks."

XXX

"Alright, now we just need to let it sit overnight." Anna told the twins as she finished making the potion for their Canary Creams. They'd add the potion to a batch of custard creams tomorrow or the day after.

"Great. What do you want to do now?" Fred asked as he stood up. He offered Anna a hand and helped her stand up as George hopped off his bed. The cauldron with their canary cream potion was sitting on the floor between Fred and George's beds.

"We can head to the kitchens. Cooking up mischief always works up an appetite." George suggested, rubbing his hands together eagerly.

Fred and Anna agreed and followed George out of the dormitory. They made it about halfway to the kitchens before they were intercepted by their Head of House. She looked both worried and frustrated. Well, more frustrated than usual.

"Hi Professor McGonagall." Anna greeted her, trying not to blush over the fact she was holding Fred's hand. Their relationship wasn't that different from usual, and they didn't really do any PDA. If they kissed or anything, it was when no one was looking or around. Even George rarely saw them do anything couple-esque.

"Ah, hello Ms. Black, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Weasley." McGonagall greeted in return, her expression clearing just slightly. "I don't suppose any of you have seen your brother or Ms. Granger?"

Anna glanced worriedly up at Fred, but he was grinning.

"You should really specify when you talk about our brother. We have quite a few."

Anna elbowed him in the ribs when McGonagall glared at him.

"No, Professor, we haven't seen them for a few hours, but I think Harry mentioned they were going to the library." Anna told her before she could give Fred detention. It was the evening before the next task, and Harry still had no idea how he was going to breathe underwater for an hour, so Hermione and Ron were trying to help him figure something out.

"Well, could you find them and bring them to my office, please?" McGonagall asked tensely. "There're some important matters I need to discuss with them."

"Of course." Anna and George answered together.

"We'll go get them now." George assured her.

"Thank you." McGonagall said before turning and heading back down the corridor.

Anna exchanged a look with Fred and George.

"Well, to the library." George waved his arm in a grand gesture and the three headed for the library.

When they entered the large doors to the library, they wandered around for a few minutes, trying to find the younger trio. Finally, Anna heard Hermione's voice an isle over from the one they were walking down.

"Oh this is no use." There was a sharp snap of a book being closed. Anna lead the way toward the end of the isle. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind." Fred announced as they rounded the bookshelf. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

The younger trio looked up at them while Anna turned to look thoughtfully up at her boyfriend.

"Would your nose hair be ginger?" she asked thoughtfully, honestly curious now.

George and Fred both laughed, and even the younger three seemed to crack smiles.

"I don't know. Wanna look?" Fred asked, leaning over Anna and stretching his nose to make his nostrils bigger.

"Ew!" Anna laughed, leaning away from him and pushing at his chest.

"What are you three doing here?" Ron asked.

"Looking for you." George answered. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."

Hermione looked surprised. "Why?"

"Dunno…she was looking a bit grim, though." Fred answered.

"We're supposed to take you down to her office." George explained.

Ron and Hermione turned to stare at Harry, who was looking blankly down at an open book.

"We'll meet you back in the common room. Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?" Hermione told him, both her and Ron looking anxious.

"Right." Harry agreed uneasily.

"I'll stay and see if I can help you, if you want." Anna volunteered.

"That'd be great, thanks." Harry grinned weakly. "I can use all the help I can get."

"We'll see you guys later." Fred told them, leaning down to very briefly peck Anna on the lips. She blushed and waved as she sat down across from Harry. Luckily, he seemed too occupied to comment on the kiss, his nose buried in a book.

Anna picked up one of the books in the pile and started reading.

They searched until 8 o'clock. Then, Madam Pince, the librarian, extinguished all the lamps in the library and shooed Harry and Anna from the library. Both stumbled through the corridors under the weight of all the books they took with them.

They returned to Gryffindor Tower, pulled a table into the corner, and continued their search, though they had little luck. Crookshanks crawled into Harry's lap and curled up there, which Anna thought was cute despite the seriousness of their search.

The common room slowly started emptying. Many people wished Harry good luck in the morning in confident voices, but Harry seemed unable to speak in return. He'd just nod and swallow as if he had a lump in his throat.

As the night wore on, the words started blurring together on the pages, and Anna could feel her head nodding off. Eventually, she lost the battle with sleep and dozed off atop her book.

XXX

"Anna. Hey, wake up." a voice pulled Anna from her deep sleep, something shaking her shoulder.

Scrunching up her face, Anna blinked her eyes open. The first thing she saw was Fred's face inches from hers.

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Anna slowly lifted her head. "Hi." she mumbled, rubbing her eye with her fist.

"Morning, sleepyhead." George teased, standing just behind Fred's shoulder. "You sure looked comfy."

Anna grimaced, sitting up straight and rubbing the back of her neck. "I think I have a crick in my neck."

"That can happen when you fall asleep on your books." Fred told her playfully as his eyes swept the table. Anna followed his eyes and saw the piles of books around her. But Harry was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Harry?" she asked worriedly.

Fred shrugged. "Probably heading to the lake, I would think. It's almost 9:00."

"Let's pick up some breakfast and head down there." George suggested.

"Sure. I should probably change first." Anna mumbled.

"Go on. We'll wait." Fred assured her.

Anna hurried to her dormitory, dressed warmly, and returned to the common room so her and the twins could head down to the Great Hall.

"So, what'd McGonagall want with Ron and Hermione?" Anna asked curiously.

"No idea. She dismissed us as soon as we dropped the two off." Fred answered with a shrug. "We were hoping they told you and Harry when they got back last night."

"They never came back that I know of." Anna told them, her brow furrowing in confusion. "Unless they came back after I fell asleep. I honestly have no idea when I dozed off."

"Well, they're probably with Harry somewhere right now. I'm sure it's nothing big." George waved it off easily.

They ate a quick breakfast before walking down to the Black Lake, wanting to get good seats.

The stands from the first task had been moved to the bank of the lake. Anna lead the way to the front row, wanting to have the best view of the lake she could for the duration of the task.

9:30 grew steadily nearer, and Anna felt more and more anxious as time wore on. Harry still hadn't arrived, and she was feeling near-panicked. And she still hadn't seen Ron or Hermione since the night before.

"What are the twins doing?" Katie asked curiously as she took a seat next to Anna.

"Hm? Oh." Anna looked over her shoulder. She was saving their seats while the twins went around and took bets on the task. She would've thought they'd learned their lesson on betting after what happened with Bagman, who was still avoiding them, but no dice. "They're gathering bets on how the task will go."

"They sure seem to be more obsessed with making money lately." Katie pointed out, also watching the twins.

"Yeah. They figure, we're almost of age. They need to start making their way in life sooner or later, their dad can't give them money. They're just trying to make some money." Anna explained casually, not wanting to delve too deep into the twins' plans.

"Hello, ladies." the twins greeted them a few minutes later as they plopped down into their seats, Fred next to Anna and George next to Katie.

"Want to make any last minute bets?" Fred asked them both.

Anna chuckled. "No thanks, I'm good."

"Sorry, guys, I spent most of my allowance on Christmas presents for my family." Katie told them.

Anna twisted her hands together anxiously, chewing her lip as she watched the other champions and judges gather near the bank. Harry was still nowhere in sight.

"Don't worry. He'll come." Fred assured her, putting his arm around her shoulders and holding her close to his side.

Then, at the last possible minute, Harry came running full sprint down the grounds to the shore of the lake. Anna released a breath when she saw him.

The judges spread the champions out, ten feet of space separating each of them. Finally, Bagman's voice boomed loudly over the audience.

"Well, all our champions are ready for the second task, which will start on my whistle. They have precisely an hour to recover what has been taken from them. On the count of three, then. One…two… _three_!"

A whistle echoed shrilly in the cold air and the stands erupted in loud cheers. The older three champions waved their wands and dove straight into the water. Harry, on the other hand, pulled off his shoes and socks, then pulled something from his pocket and stuffed it into his mouth.

"What did he just eat?" Anna asked as he started wading into the water. She didn't get an answer, since no one knew.

Harry walked slowly until he was waist-deep in the water. Anna felt even more anxious as the seconds past, and the laughter erupting from the crowd wasn't helping. There was no sign of any magic coming from the young boy, he was just shivering violently from the freezing, February-lake water. The Slytherins started catcalling and jeering at Harry from the stands.

Then, suddenly, Harry threw himself into the water and didn't resurface. Anna leaned forward, her fingernails digging into the edge of her wooden seat. After almost a minute, she was certain he had started the task, reassuring herself he wasn't drowning.

"Anna, I'm sure he'll be fine." Fred told her gently, wrapping his arm around her lower back and holding her close. "He's probably down there catching up to the other champions."

Anna nodded, taking a deep breath and leaning her head against his shoulder, preparing to just sit and wait.

It wasn't long before Fleur Delacour resurfaced, but it was clear it wasn't because she found her stolen item. She was covered in scratches and stumbled out of the water with some help. It was soon announced she'd been attack by grindylows before completing the task.

"It sucks that she's the only girl in the tournament." Anna muttered, turning to Katie. "She makes us all look bad. Not that I'd do any better, but honestly."

Katie agreed, and it was back to waiting.

They all made some light conversation as they waited for something more to happen. Anna felt both anxious and bored. Soon, the hour arrived and none of the other champions had arrived yet.

"What happens now that none of them have arrived within the hour they were given?" Anna asked. "Do they all fail? Are they going to drown down there now that their time has run out?"

"I doubt Dumbledore'd let them all drown." Fred told her dryly.

"But they might all lose points for being late." George pointed out thoughtfully.

At that moment, the surface of the lake stirred as someone surfaced. Anna stood up abruptly to get a good look, as did most of the crowd.

Cedric swam toward the shore with…Cho Chang?

"They used _people_?" Anna asked in disbelief. "They had to go down there to save people?"

"Relax, Anna. I'm sure there were precautions. They're not going to let students die." George assured her again.

Everyone sat back down as thick blankets were wrapped around Cedric and Cho and Pomfrey began fussing over them. A few minutes later, Krum surfaced with Hermione.

"There you go, Anna. That's where Hermione disappeared to. The bottom of the Black Lake." George grinned, waving his hand in a gesture toward the lake shore.

Anna glared at him. "That's not comforting in the slightest, you prat."

Fred eyed the group by the lake thoughtfully as Pomfrey moved in to check on Krum and Hermione, wrapping thick blankets around them, as well.

"So, Cedric had to save Cho, Krum saved Hermione…you think Harry's down there saving Ron?"

George, Katie, and Anna exchanged a glances. It certainly made sense. Out of everyone at Hogwarts, Ron would be the person Harry would care about most, apart from Hermione.

"I'm sure he's fine." George shrugged.

Minutes passed and dragged on, and still Harry didn't return. Anna could tell the judges were getting anxious. It felt like it was taking forever for Harry to resurface and Anna was tempted to go down and ask someone if anyone knew what was going on.

But finally, three heads popped out of the water, one black, one red, and one silver-blonde.

The stands erupted in cheers and screams as Harry, Ron, and a young girl Anna didn't recognize swam toward the shore. Anna guessed it was Fleur's sister or something, as they looked alike and Fleur had rushed to the shore frantically at the sight of her.

About twenty merpeople also surface around the three kids, seeming as if they were smiling at Harry. The two boys also appeared to be helping the young girl swim toward the bank where the judges were all waiting for them, all the merpeople swimming around them like guards and screeching a kind of song.

"Hey, there's Percy." Anna pointed, seeing the other Weasley brother splash into the shallows to meet them, his face very pale.

"Is the girl okay?" Katie asked worriedly. Indeed, the girl looked half-dead as Harry and Ron helped her, and Fleur was in hysterics as she practically fought Madame Maxime to get to her.

When Percy reached the kids, he seized Ron and dragged him to the bank, making Ron look very disgruntled. Dumbledore and Bagman were helping Harry out of the water as Fleur broke free of her Headmistress and rushed to hug her little sister. Pomfrey then snatched Harry from Dumbledore and pulled him toward the other champions, wrapping him tightly in a blanket and forcing some potion down his throat.

Anna sat on the edge of her seat as Dumbledore crouched at the water's edge, talking with what looked like the chief of the mermaids. When he finished, all the judges huddled together to talk.

Percy walked Ron over to sit next to Harry and Fleur came over to talk to Harry, giving him a kiss on both cheeks, and then doing the same for Ron.

The crowd went quiet when Bagman's voice boomed loudly over the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have reached our decision. Merchieftainess Murcas has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake, and we have therefore decided to award marks out of fifty for each of the champions as follows…

"Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by grindylows as she approached her goal, and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her twenty-five points."

The crowd applauded and Fleur looked disappointed in herself.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was the first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of one hour." There was enormous cheers from Hufflepuff, though Fred and George scowled and Anna and Katie politely clapped. "We therefore award him forty-seven points."

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him forty points."

Anna scowled this time, partially because she noticed Karkaroff clapping vigorously, looking very snobbish.

"Harry Potter used gillyweed to great effect. He returned last, and well outside the time limit of an hour. However, the Merchieftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges," Bagman paused to send Karkaroff a nasty glare, "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However…Mr. Potter's score is forty-five points."

The crowd applauded loudly, as this meant Harry was tied for first with Cedric.

"Moral fiber?" Anna asked over the noise. "What does that even mean? Harry ate honorable tree bark?"

Fred snorted. "That was horrible." he laughed, shaking his head as the applause quieted down.

"The third and final task will take place at dusk on the twenty-fourth of June. The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

People began standing up and making their way out of the stands. Anna, George, and Fred hurried ahead of the crowd to catch up with Pomfrey, who was herding the other champions and their 'hostages' toward the castle.

"Good job, Harry." Anna grinned at him, slowing to a walk next to Harry and Ron.

"Thanks." Harry grinned sheepishly.

"Yeah, all that moral fiber and stuff." Fred joked.

"Now you just have to sit back until June twenty-fourth."

XXX

"I just got a letter from my parents." Anna told Harry as she sat down across from him at breakfast. "They want to meet us at our next Hogsmeade trip, which is next weekend. Want to talk and all that. And I guess they found out what the baby is, and they want to tell us in person."

"Great. Can't wait." Harry grinned earnestly.

"Yeah, and then you can tell your parents about you and Fred." George's voice spoke as he and Fred took a seat on either side of Anna.

She stiffened, her eyes on her plate.

It was early March, and the weather was drier, but the winds were still cold and harsh. Ron had been sharing Harry's limelight since the last task at the end of February. His story on what happened in the lake had originally stayed true to the facts, but gradually changed to make himself sound like the hero. People had also been teasing Hermione about being the thing Krum would miss most, Anna and the twins included.

Anna and Fred had also argued a little bit in the last couple weeks. They'd been dating for over two months and still hadn't told their parents. This was at Anna's insistence. Fred wanted to tell them, but Anna didn't.

Anna glanced between George and Fred before taking a bite of her breakfast.

"Oh, you're ignoring me now, eh?" George mocked.

"George, stop." Anna mumbled tiredly, resting her forehead in her hand.

"No, I'm not going to stop. This is your relationship with my twin we're talking about. You two've been dating for over two months, you can tell your parents. Fred wants to, so why don't you?"

"George, just drop it." Fred told him. "She'll tell them when she's ready."

A lump formed in Anna's throat at the tired, almost defeated tone in his voice. Blinking her eyes, she stood up and walked out of the Great Hall, making the long walk back to Gryffindor Tower. She muttered the password to the Fat Lady and climbed into the common room before pausing.

She had Herbology soon, but she felt like she needed to do some serious thinking. She'd been avoiding the topic of telling her parents about Fred since he brought it up. Maybe they needed to sit down and have a serious discussion on the topic.

Without really thinking, Anna turned and headed up the boys' staircase, turning into the sixth year dormitory. It was empty as everyone was at breakfast or heading to their first class of the day.

Anna headed straight for Fred's bed and climbed onto it, scooting to sit slouched against the pillow with her knees bent up. She wasn't sure how long she sat there like that, lost in her thoughts, but that was how Fred found her when he returned to his dormitory after breakfast. Since he didn't have any classes that day, while George had Herbology, he figured he'd get some shop work done.

But when he entered his dormitory, he found his girlfriend sitting on his bed.

"Er…Hi?" he said hesitantly, pausing in the doorway. "Shouldn't you…be in Herbology?" he asked slowly.

Anna took a deep breath, dragging her eyes from where they'd been staring at her knees to where he was standing. "I think we should talk first." she admitted quietly.

"Uh oh." Fred muttered, approaching the bed and sitting across from her, kicking off his shoes and crossing his legs. "What are we talking about?"

"Um…us telling our parents?" she murmured uncertainly, looking up at him from under her lashes.

"Ooookaaay." he said slowly. "What about it?"

Anna looked back down at her lap and was silent for a few moments as she thought. "How do you think your mum will react?" she finally asked.

Fred cracked a grin. "Easy. She'll be overjoyed. I mean, I was joking about her planning our wedding, but she'll definitely love it."

"And your dad?"

Fred shrugged. "He may not overreact like Mum will, but he loves you. He'll be happy, too."

"And how do you think my mum would react?"

Fred's brows furrowed in confusion, wondering where this questioning was going. "You probably know your mum better than I do, but I think she'd be happy. I don't see why she wouldn't."

Anna nodded slowly.

"And my dad?"

Fred thought for a moment.

"I don't know." he answered honestly. "How do you think he'd react?"

"That's just it. I don't know." Anna admitted. "I've been putting off telling them because I have no idea how my dad will react."

" _That's_ what it is?" Fred repeated, perplexed. "Do you think he'll be mad about it or something?"

"I don't know. It's more…fear of the unknown. He could be happy about it, though I doubt that, or he could be mad. Don't some dads not like the idea of their daughter dating? I haven't known him long enough to know how he'd react, except that he's really protective."

Fred nodded slowly, leaning back on his hands. "I suppose you have a point. But you can't keep it a secret forever. And I don't want to. I don't want to have to keep threatening Ron to keep his gob shut just because we haven't told our parents ourselves yet. I want my family to know you're my girlfriend."

Anna looked down shamefully at her lap. "I'm sorry."

There was a moment of silence until Fred started shifting around. Anna waited to see what he was doing, and he crawled over to sit next to her, nudging her over so he could lean back against the pillow beside her, their arms and sides pressed together.

"Okay. Let's look at it this way. What's the worst Sirius would do if we told him?" Fred asked rationally.

"Kill you?" Anna suggested quietly, shrugging her shoulder.

Fred chuckled. "Okay, let me rephrase that. What's the worst he would _realistically_ do?"

Anna leaned her head back against the backboard, thinking for a moment. "Get mad? Scream? Shout? Forbid us from being together?"

"Wow. Morbid much?" Fred joked. "Look at it this way. You said part of the reason he ran away from his parents was because they wanted him and your mom to break up, right?"

"That was one of many reasons, but yes." Anna agreed with a nod.

"Well, he's pretty much done whatever he could to separate himself from his family. So, do you really think he'd freak out on us too much and risk treating you the way his parents treated him?"

Anna turned and stared up at Fred, searching his face thoughtfully.

"That's…actually a really good point." she murmured, nodding slowly.

"See? Soooo,…can we tell our parents?" he asked hopefully.

Anna looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully.

"How about this?" she finally asked, looking back at him. "I'll try and pull my mum aside at Hogsmeade and tell her. She knows my dad better than I do, she'll know how to tell him. And then you can write to your parents and tell them later that night or something. Sound good?"

Fred smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that works."

Anna scooted closer to him, and when he lifted his arm to wrap it around her shoulders, she snuggled into his side. "I'm sorry if I made you feel like…like I was embarrassed by you or something."

"No, that wasn't it. I just didn't really understand why you were still putting it off." Fred told her honestly, rubbing his hand over her arm. "We probably should've had this conversation sooner, but better late than never, right?"

Anna smiled guiltily up at him, her head rested partially on his chest. "Sorry."

"No, don't be. I should've brought it up more instead of giving up." he said, leaning down and kissing her forehead and making her smile. "I'm almost disgusted by myself, giving up so easily."

Anna laughed at his playfully mocking voice as he scolded himself.

"Well," she scooted up higher and wrapped her arm around his stomach. "you can't pull all the weight in this relationship if it's going to work."

"What do you mean ' _if_ '?" Fred asked in mock disgust. "This relationship is going to work if it's the last thing I do."

"Well, hopefully it isn't the last thing you do. And yes, it will work." Anna agreed.

Fred smiled before leaning down and kissing her on the mouth. Anna smiled, her cheeks growing warm as she leaned up to return the kiss.

Fred's hand moved up to cradle the back of Anna's head, his own head tilting slightly. Anna's hand moved from his side up to rest against the side of his face before sliding back so her fingers threaded into his hair. Fred turned slightly onto his side, his other hand resting on her waist and pulling her closer.

This continued for a few minutes before Fred slowed it down and pulled away, kissing her one more time on the cheek.

Anna felt all warm and giddy as she snuggled into his chest, his strong arms tight around her and holding her close.

Fred laughed breathlessly, his chest heaving as he caught his breath. "Well, that was fun." he joked, running a hand through Anna's nearly-black hair to work out the tangles he'd unintentionally caused.

Anna laughed, lifting her red face to look up at him. "Yeah. We should do that again sometime."

"Absolutely." Fred agreed eagerly, making Anna laugh again.

"Hey, Fred, have you seen-" George stopped in the doorway, looking between the two as a grin slowly started spreading across his face.

Anna blushed when she realized what this probably looked like. She tried to scoot away from Fred, but he continued to hold her close, giving his twin an almost challenging smirk.

"Well, now I know why you weren't in class." George joked, smirking at Anna.

"Shut up." she whined, burying her face in Fred's chest again.

Fred laughed, making his chest jerk and bump Anna's head a few times. "Leave her alone, Georgie."

"So, does this mean you two worked your issues out?" George asked, moving to sit on his own bed next to Fred's.

Fred glanced down at Anna and gave her a warm smile, which she returned.

"Yep."


	27. Different Kinds of Love

"So, you're not angry about the article?" Annabelle asked curiously as they walked down the path toward Hogsmeade.

"Of course not." Hermione laughed, waving it off. "If that's the worst Skeeter can do, she's losing her touch."

Apparently an article had been published in _Witch Weekly_ by Rita Skeeter claiming that Hermione was playing with both Harry and Krum's heart, also mentioning she may be making love potions. Anna would've thought she'd be embarrassed by it, but she was just laughing it off.

Finally, the four reached the Three Broomsticks and entered the pub, pausing in the doorway to search for Anna's parents. They quickly found the couple sitting in the same booth as last time. Sirius spotted them the same moment and waved them over.

Harry lead the way, practically running across the pub as the others followed.

Sirius stood up and greeted Harry with a tight hug, a big grin stretched over his cheeks. Wren slid down the booth so she could stand up and greet them. Anna, Ron, and Hermione waited as Harry moved to lightly hug Wren next and then slid into the booth. Anna hugged her dad tightly, resting her head briefly on his chest and feeling him kiss her forehead before she pulled away.

She hugged her mum before pulling back and staring down with wide eyes.

"You have a bump!" she exclaimed.

Wren and Sirius laughed, his arm going around his wife's waist.

"Yes, I have a bump." Wren agreed, resting a hand on the tiny bump on her belly.

Anna scooted into the booth next to Harry, Hermione and Ron following her and Wren and Sirius sitting across from them.

"So,…boy? Girl? Twins?" Anna asked excitedly.

Her parents laughed again.

"Merlin, no. I don't think I could handle twins, especially seeing what Fred and George get up to." Wren shook her head, still chuckling. "We're actually having a baby boy. You're going to have a little brother."

Anna bounced a little in her seat, making Harry and Hermione laugh at her.

"Do you know what you're going to name him?" Anna asked curiously.

Wren and Sirius exchanged a glance.

"We've thrown a few ideas around, but we're actually keeping it to ourselves until he's born." Sirius announced, draping his arm over the back of the booth behind Wren.

"And you're…four months now, right?" Hermione asked Wren.

"Just a week short of four months, yes. Almost halfway done." Wren answered with a nod.

They quickly ordered lunch, Sirius telling them he was paying. After they placed their orders, Sirius pulled two newspapers from the inside of his traveling cloak.

"You kids been reading the _Daily Prophet_?" he asked, placing them on the table.

Anna picked up one and Harry picked up the other. The headline on Anna's read _Ministry Witch Still Missing-Minister of Magic Now Personally Involved_. Harry's read _Mystery Illness of Bartemius Crouch_.

Anna glanced over and saw Harry skimming the article.

"They're making it sound like he's dying." Harry said slowly. "But he can't be that ill if he managed to get up here…"

"What do you mean? He hasn't been to Hogwarts for a while. Percy's been coming in his place." Anna pointed out, passing her paper to Hermione to read.

"I saw him on…on the map that night Moody helped me. He was snooping around Snape's office." Harry explained.

"My brother, Percy, is Crouch's personal assistant." Ron told Sirius. "He says Crouch is suffering from overwork."

"Mind you, he _did_ look ill, last time I saw him up close. The night my name came out of the goblet…"

"Yes, I remember that." Sirius nodded slowly. "And what's this about him snooping around Snape's office?"

"I saw him on the map in Snape's office. I didn't get to actually see him, because I had an issue with Filch, Snape, and Moody. And then I loaned the map to Moody." Harry explained briefly. "Moody figured he was trying to get Snape in trouble for Dark Magic or something."

"Yes, that sounds like something Crouch would pull." Sirius commented, his nose wrinkled in dislike. "He's the type who would figure catching one more Death Eater would bring back his old popularity."

"Snape was a Death Eater?" Ron asked in astonishment.

"Well, it was never proven." Sirius rolled his eyes. "But the people he hung around with in school were people who definitely turned into Death Eaters as soon as they graduated. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he was, which is why I was shocked Dumbledore let him teach here."

"Dumbledore trusts him." Hermione pointed out tensely. "And that should be enough for everyone."

Anna and all the guys looked doubtful, while Wren seemed to agree with Hermione.

"She has a point. Snape may not be pleasant, but that doesn't mean he's evil." Wren pointed out, giving her husband a stern look.

"But you said Karkarkoff used to be a Death Eater." Harry pointed out to Sirius, who nodded. "Well, Snape and Karkaroff definitely know each other. He came into our Potions class yesterday, wanting to talk to Snape while we worked. Apparently, Snape's been avoiding him. Karkaroff looked really worried and showed Snape something on his arm, but I couldn't see what it was."

"Something on his arm?" Sirius repeated quietly, looking worried. Wren looked worriedly up at him, slipping her arm through his. "I'm not sure what that could be about. But be careful around those two, if they're talking. I don't trust the pair of them, even if Dumbledore does." he added with a glance at Hermione, who looked grouchy.

Turning to Ron, Sirius continued, "You said your brother's Crouch's personal assistant? You think you could ask him about Crouch and if there're any leads on Bertha Jorkins?"

"I can try, but I doubt he'll tell me anything." Ron told him uncertainly.

Their food arrived and conversation moved onto other things. Before they knew it, the afternoon was nearing an end.

Anna had been silently floundering, trying to find a way to get her mother alone to tell her about her and Fred, but she had no idea how to do that.

"Well, before Sirius and I get going, I was hoping to stop in Honeydukes. I've been craving their chocolate." Wren admitted, rubbing her bump lightly after they finished eating. "And Sirius was thinking of looking around some of the other shops, since he hasn't had the chance in a while."

Anna tried not to get too excited at this news.

"Great! I was thinking of going to Honeydukes, too. I could go with you."

Wren grinned teasingly. "You won't be embarrassed walking around with your pregnant mum?"

Anna rolled her eyes. "Of course not. I'll say you're my sister." she joked, making her mum reach across the table to swat at her.

So, Wren and Anna walked to Honeydukes while Sirius explored the other shops with Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

As they browsed the isles, Wren grabbed some bars of Honeydukes Best Chocolate.

"So, why did you really want to come with me?" Wren asked casually as Anna grabbed some chocolate bars and frogs.

Anna blushed. "Was I that obvious?"

"Only to me. Now, what's up?" Wren asked, looking at her daughter, who was the same height as her now.

Anna bit her lip for a moment before looking at her. "Well,…I wasn't sure how to tell Dad this, because I'm not sure how he'd take it, so I thought I'd tell you first, and you could maybe tell him later…"

"And that is?" Wren urged when Anna trailed off.

"I…might be…kinda…sorta…dating Fred." Anna admitted quietly.

Wren's smile slowly widened, and she didn't look surprised at all.

"I figured that would happen eventually." she admitted.

"You did?" Anna asked in shock.

"Well, I figured it'd be one of the twins, though I wasn't sure which one. So I'm not too surprised."

"Huh. Did everyone know but me and Fred?" Anna asked more to herself, but Wren heard and chuckled.

"Probably. Molly will be thrilled. So, how'd it happen?"

"Well,…we admitted we both fancy each other at the Yule Ball." Anna admitted, leaving out the incident with Oscar. "And after some talking, we decided to go on a date. He set up a picnic in the Astronomy Tower on New Years." Anna admitted with a darker blush.

"Aw." Wren cooed. "That's so romantic. And so you. That sounds exactly like something the two of you would do."

"Yeah, I know." Anna agreed, grabbing some Crystallized Pineapple.

"So, you're nervous about your father knowing." Wren guessed.

"Very much so." Anna admitted bluntly.

"Well, I can't blame you. I'll admit, he'll be a little protective, and may not like the idea of you dating. But don't worry, he likes Fred. He'll get used to it. Do you want me to tell him tonight sometime?"

"Could you?" Anna asked hopefully.

Wren laughed. "Of course."

XXX

Anna let Fred borrow Ariel Sunday morning to send a letter to Molly, telling her about their relationship. She was half expecting Molly to write a response within the week, but she wasn't sure.

Anna sat next to Fred and across from Katie for breakfast the Monday after their Hogsmeade weekend.

"So, they won't tell you what they're going to name him?" Katie repeated in slight surprise.

Anna shrugged. "I guess they want it to be a surprise for everyone. It's hard to say." she answered, referring to her parents naming her future baby brother.

There was a loud screech as several owls swooped into the Great Hall carrying mail. After a few minutes, Anna noticed several owls had landed just down the table, seeming to jostle for position.

"What's going on over there?" she asked, leaning around Fred to see. The others followed her line of sight, and they all saw Hermione getting several letters from the owls in front of her.

When Hermione opened the last envelope, some kind of liquid spilled out onto her hands, causing her skin to erupt in boils. With eyes shining with tears, Hermione got up and hurried out of the Great Hall.

Anna stood up and moved down the table to the seat Hermione had vacated.

"What happened?" she asked, avoiding touching the liquid that had spilled onto Hemrione's hands, which she now recognized to be undiluted bubo tuber pus.

Harry silently handed her a couple of the letters.

The first one read, _'Harry Potter can do much better than the likes of you…'_ Another one said, _'You are a wicked girl. Harry Potter deserves better. Go back to where you came from muggle.'_

Anna's mouth dropped as she read the horrible things people were writing to Hermione.

"People seriously believe the garbage that Skeeter woman wrote?"

Apparently, they did. Hermione got more and more hate mail as the week continued. After a few days, she stopped opening them because Hagrid told her to, as he spoke from experience. But many people sent Howlers, which went off at breakfast for the whole school to hear. Because of this, Hermione had a fire lit under her. She yearned to get back at Skeeter more than ever, wanting to know how she was getting her information.

Anna and Harry were worried she might snap.

Anna was surprised when Ariel returned from the Burrow empty-handed, well, empty-taloned. But then Harry's owl, Hedwig, returned to Hogwarts at the end of Easter holidays with a package of Easter eggs from Molly.

"Anna! There's one for you!" Ginny called across the common room.

Anna dragged herself off the couch and went to the table in the corner where all the Weasley kids, Harry, and Hermione were gathered around Hedwig with a large package of enormous Easter eggs.

Fred, George, and Ron were already digging into the homemade toffee inside their huge eggs as Ginny passed one to Anna.

"Thanks. Are these from your mum?" she asked, popping hers open to look inside. There was a pile of toffee as well as a letter with her name on it.

"Yep. And look what else me and George got." Fred told her, tilting his egg so she could see cookies with blue frosting and the words 'Happy Birthday' on them. The twins' birthday, April 1st, had been a few days ago and Anna had spent the whole day hanging out with them, and they'd got their friends together for a game of Quidditch out on the pitch. The day had ended with her, Fred, and George curled up on the common room couch drinking hot chocolate and just talking like old times.

"Your mum doesn't read _Witch Weekly_ , by any chance, does she, Ron?" Anna looked up at Hermione's quiet voice and saw that she was holding an Easter egg that was smaller than a chicken egg.

"Yeah." Ron answered in a muffled voice, as his mouth was full of toffee. "Gets it for the recipes."

Hermione sighed and looked sadly at her tiny egg. Anna guessed Molly could've fit one, maybe two, pieces of toffee in that egg.

"What's that?" George asked, leaning over Fred's egg to look in Anna's.

"What?"

"That." George pointed.

Anna pulled out the envelope. "This? Not sure. It's your mum's handwriting, isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's hers." Fred nodded, eating another piece of toffee.

"Probably responding to your _news_." George guessed with a smirk.

"What news?" Ron asked, mouth still full.

"Us dating, you moron." Fred told him with a roll of his eyes.

Anna shook her head, smiling in amusement as she opened the envelope to pull out the letter to read.

' _Dear Anna,_

 _Congratulations, sweetie! I was so pleased to get Fred's letter about the two of you. I always thought you would end up with one of my boys, and I am so very happy for you both. I hope he treats you well, and you let me know if he doesn't. I also had lunch with your mother a few days ago, and she was very happy, too, and she told me a bit about how you two ended up getting together. I already see you as a member of my family, and I hope Fred makes you very happy._

 _Hope you had a good Easter holiday, and I hope you enjoy your toffees. Have a good rest of the year, sweetie._

 _Love, Molly'_

Anna blushed as she read her letter, folding it back up when she finished.

"Well, what'd she say?" George asked curiously.

"From your blush, I'd say it was either her flattering you or talking about a wedding." Fred smirked, reaching over and playfully brushing his knuckle down her red cheek.

Anna scowled playfully, swatting his hand away. "She says she's very happy for us. And she told me to tell her if you don't treat me well, so you better behave yourself." she threatened playfully.

Fred rolled his eyes. "Please. I always treat you well. I'm a perfect gentleman."

Ron snorted. "Sure you are."

Fred smirked evilly at his younger brother. "You got something to say, Ronniekins?"

Ron's face paled and he looked away. "Nope."

Fred and George laughed while Anna shook her head, standing up and gathering her large egg and letter.

"Where're you going?" Ginny asked curiously as she nibbled on one of her pieces of toffee.

"My dormitory. I'm going to write a thank you to your mum." she answered.

Anna set her Easter egg on her bedside table and pulled out a parchment and quill, sprawling out on her floor to write.

' _Dear Molly,_

 _Thank you very much for the toffee, it's delicious! And thank you for your kind words in your letter, I really appreciate it. And don't worry, Fred's usually a gentlemen, and if he isn't I usually put him back in line. We're both very happy together, and our little trio with George is as strong as it's ever been._

 _While I'm writing to you, I was hoping I could mention something. I noticed Hermione's egg was much smaller than everyone else's. And I was wondering if you perhaps read_ Witch Weekly _? If so, I thought you should know that Rita Skeeter's article about Hermione was a complete lie. Hermione and Harry aren't even close to being romantically involved, and Hermione is definitely not playing with both Harry's and Krum's hearts. Skeeter was just getting back at Hermione for standing up for Hagrid after Skeeter's article about him. Harry would tell you the same thing. Hermione has been getting a lot of hate mail because of the article, and I can tell it's really upsetting her. I just thought you'd like to know._

 _Thank you again for the toffee, and I hope you had a good Easter holiday. Say hi to Arthur for me._

 _Love, Anna'_

Anna read over her letter a couple times before deeming it fit to be sent. So, she folded it up, wrote Molly's name on the front, and set it on her bedside table to send in the morning.

XXX

April and May passed with Anna spending much of her free time studying, unless the twins dragged her away to help them with making more of their products. Fred would also occasionally drag her out for some alone time.

One evening in the last week of May, Anna was working on an essay for Charms when Fred and George plopped down on either side of her on the couch.

"Hi." Fred greeted her.

"You need to talk some sense into him." George added, clearly referring to Fred.

"What does he want to do now?" she asked, putting her quill back in her inkwell and sitting back to look between them.

"He wants to threaten Bagman into giving us our money by saying we'll tell the Ministry." George told her.

Anna grimaced. "I…might have been the person to give him that idea." she admitted.

"You _what_?" George yelped. "Aren't you the sensible one?"

"Well, I'm not saying we threaten him." she defended, glancing between them. "But…my mum works in the Ministry, in the Department of Security. If you just mention that, and that it would be easy to let this situation slip to her, he may cough up. And I also suggested just asking for your money back, forget about winning the bet, getting your money back would be better than nothing."

George opened his mouth, looking ready to argue, when Harry came into the common room and approached them.

"Hi. How'd it go?" Anna asked curiously as he sat on Fred's other side.

"They told us what the last task is." Harry admitted. "They've set up a maze on the Quidditch pitch. We've basically got to get to the Cup inside. I also noticed Crouch wasn't there again."

"Hm. He'd have to be really sick to still be out, wouldn't he?" she murmured.

"Who knows? At this point, I just want this task to be done."

XXX

The next morning at daybreak, Anna was dragged from bed so her and the twins could post their latest letter.

"This was definitely not what I told you to write." she told Fred as she read through their letter. "I told you to just demand your money back, because he took it illegally with you being underage, but demanding a payoff makes you guys equally guilty."

Fred snatched the letter from her and put it back in the envelope addressed to Bagman as they climbed the stairs to the owlry.

"That's what I said!" George exclaimed, throwing his hands out. "Demanding a payoff, that's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that-"

"-we've tried being polite, it's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did-"

"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!" George cut Fred off again.

"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice, fat payoff, will you?" Fred retorted, shoving the door to the owlry open with a bang. The three crossed the threshold, only to freeze at the sight of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"What're you doing here?" Fred and Ron demanded at the same time.

"Sending a letter." Harry and Anna answered together.

"What, at this time?" Hermione and George asked.

Fred grinned. "Fine-we won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us."

Anna noticed Harry glance at the envelope in Fred's hand, but Fred casually shifted his hand so the name on the envelope was covered.

"Well, don't let us hold you up." Fred continued when no one moved, making a mock bow and pointing to the door.

Ron didn't move. "Who're you blackmailing?"

Fred's grin vanished. Anna glanced at the twins at the same time George glanced at Fred. He then briefly met Anna's eyes before smiling at Ron. "Don't be stupid, I was only joking."

"Didn't sound like that." Ron argued. Anna, Fred, and George once again exchanged a glance before Fred spoke abruptly.

"I've told you before, Ron, keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but-"

"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone. George's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that."

"Told you, I was joking." George said, taking the letter from Fred and beginning to attach it to the leg of the nearest barn owl. Clearly, George would always back Fred up when challenged by someone. Even though he disagreed with the letter, he was sending it. "You're starting to sound a bit like our dear older brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect."

"No, I won't!" Ron argued hotly, clearly offended at the very thought.

George carried the owl to the nearest window and it took flight. George then turned around and grinned at Ron. "Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."

With that, Anna and Fred turned to leave the owlry, George right on their heels.

"There, we sent it. Happy now?" George asked grouchily at the left.

Fred grinned over his shoulder at his twin. "Yep. Thanks, Georgie."

XXX

"So, let me get this straight." Anna muttered, clasping her hands together in front of her face. "He fell asleep in Divination, started screaming, and fell out of his chair and onto the floor with his hands over his forehead. When he…woke up, or whatever, he said he was going to the hospital wing."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it." Ron agreed with a nod.

"And do you know if he's okay?" she asked worriedly.

Ron shrugged, also looking worried. "Haven't seen him since."

Anna kept her clasped hands over her mouth as she thought deeply.

"Is it his scar?" she asked, looking at Ron again. Ron's eyes went wide. "I remember Harry writing to my dad over the summer about his scar hurting. Does that happened often?"

Ron swallowed, shrugging uncomfortably. "Well,…yeah, kinda. But I don't know if it means anything."

Anna nodded, though she wasn't sure if she believed him. She knew Harry and her father had been owling each other nearly everyday for a while now. If Harry's scar was hurting, he'd tell Sirius before anyone else. Everything would be fine.

"Well, the third task is almost here, and our final exams, and then the year will finally be over and we can forget about this stupid tournament."

"You mean you _aren't_ having the greatest year ever?" a familiar voice teased. "Should I be offended?"

Anna rolled her eyes and looked over her shoulder as Fred and George rounded the couch to sit next to her, Fred's arm going around her shoulders.

"Oh, be quiet." Anna muttered, lightly elbowing him in the ribs.

"Hey, you should be nice to me." Fred told her. "I come bearing study snacks since you're working so hard." he added, lifting up a paper bag.

Anna snatched it from his hand, making him and George laugh as she opened it and looked inside. There were biscuits, chocolate bars, pumpkin pasties, and sour apple bites.

Anna gasped. "Oh my gosh, I love you!" she exclaimed, her arms flying around Fred's neck in a tight hug.

Fred chuckled, his hand on her back while George made a teasing, " _Ooooh_ " sound.

Realizing what she said, Anna blushed and quickly pulled away, her eyes planted firmly on the bag in her lap to avoid eye contact.

"Um, well, thanks for the, um, snacks. I'm gonna…go." With that, Anna quickly stood up, the bag and her books in her arms, and hurried toward the girls' stairs. She didn't make it far, however, before a hand gently grabbed her elbow and started pulling her another direction.

Fred sighed and pulled her toward the portrait hole. "See you two later." he called to George and Ron as he pulled her out of the common room.

"Fred, I need to study." Anna argued quietly, tugging on her arm to make him let go, but he held on and tugged her down the corridor. He came to an empty classroom nearby and pulled her inside before releasing her and locking the door with a wave of his wand.

He turned back to his girlfriend to see her standing with her arms tightly wrapped around her books.

"Anna. Could you look at me?" Fred suggested casually, stepping forward so they were only a small step from each other.

Anna hesitantly peaked up at him from underneath her eyelashes. "What?" she asked in a quiet whisper.

"I just think we need to address what just happened before you have the chance to over think it." Fred explained.

Anna blushed, but tried to play dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Anna, you said 'I love you' back there." Fred reminded her unnecessarily.

Anna winced. "It was just…it just came out. It was a figure of speech, or something. I don't…I mean,-"

"Anna." Fred cut her off, taking her books and the bag of sweets from her hands and placing them on a nearby desk. He then turned back to her and gently pushed her into a chair behind her before crouching down in front of her. Anna tried looking away from him, but he cupped her jaw with one hand to keep her in place, her eyes looking slightly down into his.

"There are different kinds of love, Anna. Parents love their kids, people love their siblings, _friends_ love their friends. You've been my best friend for years. I care about you, I _know_ you; so technically I love you as a best friend. I may not love you as my girlfriend yet, but I do love you as my best friend."

Anna nodded slowly, completely understanding. "Yeah. I love you as a best friend, too."

"Exactly." Fred grinned up at her. "We've been dating about five months now. There's no law that says we have to or can't love each other by now."

Anna nodded again.

"How about I make a deal with you?" Fred suggested.

"We seem to do that a lot." Anna noted.

Fred chuckled. "If I feel like I love you as my girlfriend, I'll tell you. You know I'm not afraid to say things. But if I say it first, I don't want you say it back _unless_ you feel the same. I'd prefer you tell me when you feel the same rather than lying to spare me my feelings or something. And that goes the other way around, too. Think we can do that?"

Anna smiled and nodded again. "Yeah, I think that sounds good."

"Good." Fred grinned again before rocking up onto his toes and kissing Anna on the lips. When he pulled away, he kept his face only a few inches from hers, their warm breath mingling. "Now, can you help me study Transfiguration, please?"

Anna rolled her eyes, playfully shoving his shoulder so he toppled back onto his butt. "Sure."

 **XXX**

 **We're down to the last few chapters in this book, and then I will start posting the last book in the trilogy, which I've titled '** _ **War of Courage',**_ **which shall go to after the final battle** _ **.**_ **I'll be posting the first chapter of that book the same day I post the last chapter of this book.**

 **Hope you're all excited for Baby Boy Black! No name will be announced until his birth in** _ **'War of Courage'**_ **.**


	28. Third and Final Task

Annabelle felt she was doing well on all her final exams. However, the day she was most stressed about was the last day of exams. But it wasn't the exams she was stressed about. It was also the day of the third task. As long as Harry got through this final task unharmed, they could all put this whole mess behind them. Even if he came in last, which she doubted he would.

She headed down to breakfast with Fred and George that morning and sat down to eat as usual, trying to pretend it was just another day of final exams. The noise level was the same as always, too, until Malfoy shouted loudly across the Hall from the Slytherin table.

"Hey, Potter! _Potter_! How's your head? You feeling alright? Sure you're not going to go berserk on us?"

Anna straightened her back to see over the heads of the other Gryffindors, and saw Malfoy holding a newspaper, all his Slytherin friends sniggering around him.

Looking down the Gryffindor table, Anna saw Ron pass a newspaper to Harry. Standing quickly, Anna hurried over to them to read the newspaper over Harry's shoulder.

 _ **Harry Potter**_

" _ **Disturbed and Dangerous"**_

 _The boy who defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is unstable and possibly dangerous, writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent. Alarming evidence has recently come to light about Harry Potter's strange behavior, which casts doubts upon his suitability to compete in a demanding competition like the Triwizard Tournament, or even to attend Hogwarts School._

 _Potter, the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, regularly collapses at school, and is often heard to complain of pain in the scar on his forehead (relic of the curse with which You-Know-Who attempted to kill him). On Monday last, midway through a Divination lesson, your Daily Prophet reporter witnessed Potter storming from the class, claiming that his scar was hurting too badly to continue studying._

 _It is possible, say top experts at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, that Potter's brain was affected by the attack inflicted upon him by You-Know-Who, and that his insistence that the scar is still hurting is an expression of his deep-seated confusion._

" _He might even be pretending," said one specialist. "This could be a plea for attention."_

 _The Daily Prophet, however, had unearthed worrying facts about Harry Potter that Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, has carefully concealed from the wizarding public._

" _Potter can speak Parseltongue," reveals Draco Malfoy, a Hogwarts fourth year. "There were a lot of attacks on students a couple of years ago, and most people thought Potter was behind them after they saw him lose his temper at a dueling club and set a snake on another boy. It was all hushed up, though. But he's made friends with werewolves and giants too. We think he'd do anything for a bit of power."_

 _Parseltongue, the ability to converse with snakes, had long been considered a Dark Art. Indeed, the most famous Parselmouth of our times is none other than You-Know-Who himself. A member of the Dark Force Defense League, who wished to remained unnamed, stated that he would regard any wizard who could speak Parseltongue "as worthy of investigation. Personally, I would be highly suspicious of anybody who could converse with snakes, as serpents are often used in the worst kinds of Dark magic, and are historically associated with evil doers." Similarly, "anyone who seeks out the company of such vicious creatures as werewolves and giants would appear to have a fondness for violence."_

Anna stood up straight, unable to continue reading the last paragraph. "Vicious my arse." she spat, sitting down next to Harry. "Remus and Hagrid are about as vicious as kittens most of the time. She's got a messed up idea of 'specialists' if those are the people she gets information from." she grumbled.

"Gone off me a bit, hasn't she?" asked Harry lightly as he folded up the paper when he finished reading.

Anna ignored the idiots at the Slytherin table, tapping their heads and sticking their tongues out.

"How did she know your scar hurt in Divination?" Ron asked. "There's no way she was there, there's no way she could've heard-"

"The window was open. I opened it to breathe." Harry explained.

"You were at the top of North Tower!" Hermione exclaimed. "Your voice couldn't have carried all the way down to the grounds!"

"Well, you're the one who's supposed to be researching magical methods of bugging!" exclaimed Harry. "You tell me how she did it!"

"I've been trying! But I…but…"

A strange, dreamy kind of expression took over Hermione's face. Slowly, she raised a hand and ran it through her hair.

"Hermione?" Anna asked uncertainly.

"Are you alright?" Ron asked, frowning at her.

"Yes." Hermione answered breathlessly. She ran her fingers through her hair again, and then held her hand up to her mouth, as though speaking into an invisible walkie-talkie.

"I've had an idea." Hermione said quietly, still staring into space. "I think I know…because then no one would be able to see…even Moody…and she'd have been able to get onto the window ledge…but she's not allowed…she's _definitely_ not allowed…I think we've got her! Just give me two seconds in the library-just to make sure!"

Without another word, Hermione grabbed her school bag and raced out of the Great Hall.

"Oi!" Ron called after her. "We've got our History of Magic exam in ten minutes! Blimey," he turned back to Harry and Anna, "she must really hate that Skeeter woman to risk missing the start of an exam. What're you going to do in Binn's class-read again?" he added to Harry.

As a champion, Harry got to skip final exams.

"S'pose so." Harry muttered.

"I'm going to return to my breakfast. See you guys at lunch." Anna told them, standing up just as Professor McGonagall approached Harry. Figuring it was about the task, she ignored it and returned to her seat between the twins and across from Katie, who was worrying about her OWL exams, being a fifth year.

Unfortunately, breakfast was soon over and Anna, Fred, Lee, Angelina, and Alicia headed to Transfiguration for their exam. George headed to his dormitory to work on their latest batch of Canary Creams, having finished all his exams.

After a couple hours of torture, Anna was sure she got nearly perfect on her exam when she walked out of the classroom at the end.

"So, how do you think you did?" Anna asked Angelina as they walked out of the classroom. Fred came up on Anna's other side and grabbed her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I think I did pretty good, but I think I mixed up the hair color changing spell and the skin color changing one." Angelina admitted with a small frown.

"I'm sure you did fine. What about you?" Anna asked, turning to look up at Fred.

"I definitely think I passed." Fred answered with a grin.

Anna rolled her eyes, nudging him with her elbow.

Their class entered the nearly-empty Great Hall. Anna's eyes went to the Gryffindor table, only to pause.

"Mum?" Anna and Fred spoke at the same time.

Sitting with Harry at the Gryffindor table was Molly and Bill Weasley, as well as Wren and Sirius.

Anna and Fred exchanged a glance before approaching the table.

"Oh, Fred! Anna!" Molly exclaimed, standing up from the table to hug them both at the same time. Anna blushed and tried to release Fred's hand, but he held firm and wrapped his free arm around his mother.

Molly pulled away and kissed both their cheeks, giving them both that warm, motherly smile before stepping back. Wren was standing just behind her with Sirius's hand on the small of her back. Her bump, now about 7 months, was significantly larger than the last time Anna saw her. She looked like she had a quaffle under her robes.

Anna finally released Fred's hand and gave her mum a tight hug.

"What are you guys doing here?" Fred asked as he hugged Bill.

"We're here to support Harry, of course." Molly answered as if it were obvious.

Anna pulled back from her mum and stepped into her dad's open arms. He held her close and kissed the top of her head.

After some greetings, they all sat back down at the table around Harry. It wasn't long before George, Ginny, and Ron arrived and joined them for lunch. Hermione arrived last and sat next to Harry.

"Are you going to tell us-?" Hermione cut Harry off with a warning shake of her head.

"So, Anna," Sirius suddenly spoke, leaning forward on his elbows to talk to her, "why'd you feel the need to have your mother tell me about you having a boyfriend?"

Anna bit her lip, glancing sideways at Fred, who was suddenly very interested in his food.

"Um, well…I just didn't know how you'd take it." she finally answered uncertainly.

Sirius opened his mouth, only for Wren to swat his arm. "Sirius, leave her alone. She's almost an adult, and she's been friends with Fred for years. And given how you did react, can you blame her for being nervous?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and grumbled under his breath. Soon, his eyes traveled to Fred the same moment Fred looked over at him.

"You better take good care of my daughter." he told him threateningly, pointing his finger at him.

Anna blushed, but Fred maintained eye contact with her father.

"Of course. I always have."

Looking down at her plate, Anna fought a smile. When her father moved onto a conversation with Bill, she glanced sideways up at Fred, who looked down at her. Smiling, she bumped his arm with her elbow. Fred grinned and returned the gesture before taking her hand in his and resting their entwined hands on his leg.

When they finished eating, Anna hurried off to take her Potions exam, her last exam of the year, while Harry was left to hang out with his guests. They returned a few hours later for the evening feast. Harry didn't eat much, probably due to his nerves, and Anna only ate a little more than him.

When the enchanted ceiling faded from blue to a dusky purple, Dumbledore stood up and a silence fell over the crowd.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in five minutes' time, I will be asking you to make your way down to the Quidditch field for the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament. Will the champions please follow Mr. Bagman down to the stadium now."

Harry stood up and all the Gryffindors applauded him. Sirius patted him on the shoulder and several of their family and friends wished him luck.

They had to wait five long minutes before everyone was dismissed to start heading down to the pitch. Anna walked next to her mum, her father on Wren's other side with his arm around her waist. It was slightly amusing that she walked with a waddle, but Anna kept that thought to herself.

The sky was a dark, endless blue and the first couple stars had appeared. When they got to the pitch, it was unrecognizable. A 25 foot hedge went all the way around the edge of the field. Sirius, Wren, and Molly sat in the very front row. Bill sat in the second row with Anna, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny.

Bill leaned around George and Fred to talk to Anna over the chatter of exited voices and rumbling feet as students filed into their seats. "Just so you know, Charlie says congratulations."

Anna's brows furrowed for a moment before they shot into her hairline. "You told him?" she asked, though she shouldn't have been surprised. She wouldn't have been surprised if Molly told every single relative they had.

"Of course. Mum wrote to me the day she found out, and I wrote to Charlie. He also told me to tell Fred he 'told you so'." Bill explained with a smirk.

Anna rolled her eyes while Fred and George laughed.

"Well, excuse me for not taking his romance advice seriously." Fred countered. "How long has it been since he had an actual girlfriend?"

"Five years, seven months, and two weeks." Bill answered with a smirk, making all the kids laugh.

"I don't know if I should be impressed or disturbed that you know." George told him, shaking his head in amusement.

"Okay, I pulled most of that out of my ar-backside." he admitted, glancing at his mother in front of him to ensure she hadn't caught his almost-swear. "But it has almost been six years."

"Good to know." Anna laughed.

Down on the field, Hagrid, Moody, McGonagall, and Flitwick entered the stadium wearing large, red, luminous stars on their hats, except Hagrid's was on the back of his moleskin vest. They all approached Bagman and the champions. McGonagall appeared to be speaking with the champions for a moment before the four teachers walked away in different directions stationed around the maze.

Once again, Bagman's voice boomed loudly over the noise of the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, the third and final task of the Triwizard Tournament is about to begin! Let me remind you how the points currently stand! Tied in first place, with eighty-five points each-Mr. Cedric Diggory and Mr. Harry Potter, both of Hogwarts school!"

The cheers were so loud, they sent birds fluttering into the sky from the forest.

"In second place, with eighty points-Mr. Viktor Krum, of Durmstrang Institute!" This announcement was followed by more applause. "And in third place-Miss Fleur Delacour, of Beauxbatons Academy!" This round of applause was polite and much more subdued.

Down by the field, Harry waved up at his family and friends, who waved back excitedly.

"So…on my whistle, Harry and Cedric!" Bagman announced. "Three-two-one-" He gave a short blast from his whistle and the two Hogwarts champions hurried into the maze.

A second whistle went off a short time later, and Krum entered the maze. Finally, the whistle blew again and Fleur entered the maze.

There was a few minutes of nothing before Fred slouched in his seat. "Well, this is going to be a boring task."

George, Bill, and Ginny murmured their agreement while Anna shifted to try and get comfortable. She had a feeling they wouldn't see much action for a while.

As time passed, there was the occasional flash or shout. Anna guessed people higher up in the stands might be able to actually catch glimpses inside the maze, but she wasn't sure.

A while later, there was a high-pitched scream that caused everyone to straighten and go tense.

"That was obviously a girl." Anna muttered.

"Think Delacour's outta the running?" George asked thoughtfully.

"Hard to say. There's no sign of anything." Bill noted.

"They'll pull them out, right? If they get attacked, they wouldn't leave them in there to die, right?"

Just as Anna asked that question, Fleur Delacour was pulled from the maze by Moody and Hagrid. She looked unconscious, but after Madam Pomfrey pointed her wand at the girl's chest, she seemed to wake up.

There was another fifteen minutes of agonized waiting. Then, there was a pained screaming for several moments, followed by silence. Red sparks went up into the sky, and a moment later, Krum was pulled from the maze.

Anna clutched at Fred's arm. "That only leaves the Hogwarts champions. Harry might actually win this."

"I hope so." Fred grinned. "Then we'll finally be even with Diggory stealing that win last year."

"You're still obsessing over that?" Hermione asked in exasperation, rolling her eyes.

The next phase of waiting lasted about an hour, and it seemed to take forever. Anna's butt was going numb on the wooden bench.

"Why is nothing happening?" Ron complained. "Shouldn't one of them have found the Cup by now?"

"Maybe it's more difficult than we thought." Hermione worried, wringing her hands together. "But I'm sure they're both fine." she added hopefully.

Suddenly, there was a quiet _whoosh_ and then Harry and Cedric were both sprawled facedown on the ground at the entrance to the maze, the Cup clutched in Harry's hand.

The stands erupted in cheers, everyone leaping to their feet. Even though Anna had no clue who won, in that moment, she didn't really care.

Sirius hurried down from his seat, probably to check on Harry, when suddenly, a horrified scream sounded over the cheers, causing everyone to quiet slightly. Anna stood on her tiptoes, looking over her mum and Molly's heads to see what was happening. Dumbledore and her dad were crouching over Harry, and had turned him onto his back, but it was hard to see much more than that because people were crowding around them. When someone shifted to the side, she caught a glimpse of Harry clutching Cedric's robes with both hands, sobbing hysterically.

"Something happened." Anna muttered, more to herself.

Fudge pushed through the crowd just as whispers stretched up through the stands like a wave, saying the same phrase over and over.

 _'Cedric's dead.'_

And just like that, not a single person was cheering anymore. People were screaming, some began crying and sobbing, begging for it not to be true. Anna looked over as Amos Diggory, Cedric's father, pushed his way through the crowd. Dumbledore hurried over to try and stop him, but he seemed to see his son's body, because he let out a gut wrenching scream.

Fred's arm went around Anna's waist and pulled her into his chest. Her arms quickly wrapped around his back, hiding her face in his jumper. She couldn't bring herself to look. She wanted to hide from the reality of what was happening. But deep down inside, she just knew it was going to get worse.

Taking a deep breath, Anna pulled away and grabbed Fred's hand, clutching it like a lifeline as she started pushing her way through the crowd. They arrived to where Molly and Wren had been stopped by Sirius, who didn't seem too keen on his pregnant wife seeing a dead body. Dumbledore was consoling Amos Diggory. Fudge was trying to keep everyone in their seats and trying to hide the body, even though that was pointless by now.

Anna hesitantly glanced toward where Cedric's body had dropped, half expecting to see Harry draped over him and sobbing into his chest, but Harry was nowhere to be seen. Looking around, Anna couldn't really make out much in the crowd. It was so tightly packed together, she couldn't tell who was who.

Leading Fred to where Sirius was still talking to Wren and Molly, Anna reached out and grabbed her dad's forearm to get his attention.

"Dad, where's Harry?" she asked worriedly when he looked down at her.

Sirius's head snapped around and he quickly scanned the area, the worry growing frantically in his gray eyes. When he found Dumbledore, he quickly made his way through the crowd to the older man's side.

"Dumbledore, where's Harry? I thought you told him to stay put." Sirius asked worriedly.

Dumbledore's eyes also looked worried as he scanned the crowd.

Bill stepped around Anna and the twins to stand with the two men. "I think I caught a glimpse of him with Moody. It looked like they were heading for the castle. Maybe he's just taking him to the hospital wing." he suggested.

Surprisingly, this seemed to make Dumbledore even more worried.

"Minerva. Severus." Dumbledore called over the crowd. When Professors McGonagall and Snape were at his side, Snape and Sirius throwing glares, Dumbledore lead the two and Sirius quickly toward the castle.

"Why would that make him more worried?" Anna asked, turning to the twins and Bill. "Wouldn't Harry be safe with Moody?"

They all shrugged while Molly and Wren approached them.

"Come along, all of you. We'll head up to the hospital wing. I expect that's where Harry will be." Molly told them all, wrapping an arm each around Ginny and Wren and herding them all up toward the castle.

It took them a tiny bit longer than normal to get to the castle, since Wren was huffing and puffing her way up the hill, her belly wearing her out quickly. But before long, they reached the castle and made their way through the corridors to the hospital wing.

However, Harry was nowhere to be seen. To their surprise, a very weak-looking Moody was lying motionless in a nearby bed, his wooden leg and magical eye on the bedside table.

"What the bloody hell happened to him? It's been, like, ten minutes!" George exclaimed, throwing his arm out toward the Defense teacher.

"He's been kept in a box for the past several months, Mr. Weasley. Now, I will kindly ask you to keep your voice down." Madam Pomfrey demanded, hurrying from her office to Moody's bedside.

"Several months?" Anna repeated in disbelief. "We saw him down by the pitch for the task."

"Apparently, the Professor Moody who's been here all year was an imposter by the name of Barty Crouch Jr., who has kept the real Alastor Moody locked in a trunk." Madam Pomfrey explained, waving her wand over Moody's limp form.

"What?!" Molly and Wren exclaimed in horror.

"But I saw Moody leading Harry away from the field!" Bill exclaimed.

"Yes, and it seems Professor Dumbledore figured it out just in time and they were able to save Harry." Pomfrey nodded, standing up straight and turning to face them.

"Well, where is he? Is he alright?" Wren demanded as the whole group subconsciously crowded around the matron.

The door behind them suddenly creaked open, causing everyone to whip around. Anna accidentally smacked into George's shoulder as she turned around. Slowly entering the hospital wing was Harry, Dumbledore, and Sirius. Anna's breath caught in her throat. Harry was very pale and the sleeve of one arm was torn and bloody.

Molly let out a muffled scream as she and Wren hurried toward them.

"Harry!"

"Oh, Harry!"

Dumbledore and Sirius stepped in front of Harry, Sirius's hands coming up to his wife's arms while Dumbledore held a hand up.

"Molly, Wren, please listen to me for a moment. Harry has been through a terrible ordeal tonight. He has just had to relive it for me. What he needs now is sleep, and peace, and quiet. If he would like you all to stay with him," he added, looking past the two mothers to the others behind them, "you may do so. But I do not want you questioning him until he is ready to answer, and certainly not this evening."

Molly and Wren nodded, both very pale. Wren stepped into Sirius's arms so he could hug her while Molly whipped around to stare down at Bill, Ron, Hermione, Anna, and the twins. She hissed at them as if they were making a racket. "Did you hear? He needs quiet!"

Dumbledore turned back to Harry. "Harry-I will wait while you get into bed. I will be back to see you as soon as I have met with Fudge, Harry. I would like you to remain here tomorrow until I have spoken to the school."

While Dumbledore turned and left the room, Madam Pomfrey lead Harry to a nearby bed.

"Is he okay?" Harry asked, his eyes fixed on Moody.

"He'll be fine." Pomfrey assured him as she passed him pajamas and pulled the screens shut around him. When he was finished, he pulled the screens open again and everyone settled in chairs around his bed before closing the screens around them all again. Wren and Sirius sat by Harry's head on one side, Molly and Bill across from them. Anna sat next to her mum, Fred on her other side, George at the foot of the bed, and Ron and Hermione across from Anna. They couldn't help it, but most of the kids were looking at Harry with fear in their eyes.

"I'm alright." he assured them all. "Just tired."

Molly's eyes filled with tears as she smoothed his bedcovers and Wren reached over to brush Harry's hair back from his forehead.

Pomfrey returned with a small bottle of a purple potion and a goblet. "You'll need to drink all of this, Harry. It's a potion for a dreamless sleep."

Harry took the goblet and drank a few mouthfuls. It wasn't long before he settled into his pillow and dozed off, his head tilting to one side. Wren gently slid his glasses, which were sitting crookedly on his nose, off and placed them on his bedside table.

Anna sighed tiredly, slouching in her seat and rubbing her hands over her face. She pulled her hands into her sleeves and crossed her arms over her stomach, staring ahead distractedly. She only came out of her thoughts when her chair was pulled to the side until it touched Fred's chair. Then, his arm went around her shoulder and gently pulled her into his side, her head coming to rest on his shoulder. She sighed again, this one silent and content as she let her eyes fall closed.

Everyone talked in whispered conversation over the next half hour or so. Sirius filled them all in on what Harry told them about his experience. What horrified everyone the most was that Harry witnessed the return of Voldemort. It was truly the worst thing that could've happened.

Anna finally forced her eyes open when she heard muffled shouting and running footsteps coming from the corridor. The conversation fell silent as everyone turned to stare in the direction of the door.

"They'll wake him if they don't shut up!" Molly hissed, standing up and half-turning toward the door.

"What are they shouting about?" Bill asked. "Nothing else can have happened, can it?"

"That's Fudge's voice." Molly whispered.

"And that's Minerva McGonagall." Wren whispered, worriedly rubbing her belly.

"But what are they arguing about?" Bill asked.

"-Regrettable, but all the same, Minerva-" Fudge's voice erupted from just outside the hospital wing doors.

McGonagall yelled in response, "You should never have brought it inside the castle! When Dumbledore finds out-"

The hospital wing doors banged open and Bill pulled the screens back so they could see what was happening.

Fudge was striding up the ward with McGonagall and Snape on his heels.

"Where's Dumbledore?" Fudge demanded of Molly, which made Anna tense. As far as she was concerned, Minister or not, no one had the right to speak to Molly Weasley like that.

"He's not here." Molly snapped angrily, looking very much like a mother bear. "This is a hospital wing, Minister, don't you think you'd do better to-" She was cut off by the door opening again as Dumbledore entered.

"What has happened?" he asked sharply, looking between Fudge and McGonagall. "Why are you disturbing these people? Minerva, I'm surprised at you-I asked you to stand guard over Barty Crouch-"

"There is no need to stand guard over him anymore, Dumbledore!" McGonagall shrieked, very unlike herself. "The Minister has seen to that!"

Anna blinked in shock. She'd never seen her Head of House lose control so horribly. There were colored blotches on her cheeks, her hands were balled into fists, and she was trembling with fury.

"When we told Mr. Fudge that we had caught the Death Eater responsible for tonight's events," Snape cut in calmly, "he seemed to feel his personal safety was in question. He insisted on summoning a dementor to accompany him into the castle. He brought it up to the office where Barty Crouch-"

"I told him you would not agree, Dumbledore!" McGonagall continued while Anna's mouth fell open and she instinctively pressed closer to Fred's side. She hated dementors and the feeling they brought out in her. Her father seemed to agree, as he tensed before standing up. "I told him you would never allow dementors to set foot inside the castle, but-"

"My dear woman!" Fudge roared, face red with anger. "As Minister of Magic, it is my decision whether I wish to bring protection with me when interviewing a possibly dangerous-"

It was hard to hear the Minister over McGonagall's continued rant.

"The moment that-that thing entered the room," she screamed, pointing at Fudge and trembling, "it swooped down on Crouch and-and-"

Anna flinched, a shiver running down her spine as the hair on her arms stood on end. She remembered all too well the cold, horrible feeling of a dementor's presence. Her father reached a hand over and rested it on her shoulder while Fred pulled her closer into his side and kissed the top of her head.

"By all accounts, he is no loss!" Fudge insisted. "It seems he has been responsible for several deaths!"

"But he cannot give testimony, Cornelius." said Dumbledore, looking at Fudge as if he was seeing things clearly for the first time. "He cannot give evidence about why he killed those people."

"Why he killed them? Well, that's no mystery, is it?" bristled Fudge. "He was a raving lunatic! From what Minerva and Severus have told me, he seems to have thought he was doing it all on You-Know-Who's instructions!"

"Lord Voldemort _was_ giving him instructions, Cornelius." Dumbledore insisted. "Those people's deaths were mere by-products of a plan to restore Voldemort to full strength again. The plan succeeded. Voldemort has been restored to his body."

Fudge stared at Dumbledore in a silent daze, looking like he'd been sucker punched.

"You-Know-Who…returned? Preposterous. Come now, Dumbledore…" he stuttered.

"As Minerva and Severus have doubtless told you, we heard Barty Crouch confess. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he told us how he was smuggled out of Azkaban, and how Voldemort-learning of his continued existence from Bertha Jorkins-went to free him from his father and used him to capture Harry. The plan worked, I tell you. Crouch has helped Voldemort to return."

"See here, Dumbledore," said Fudge, a slight smile appearing on his face. "you-you can't seriously believe that. You-Know-Who-back? Come now, come now…certainly, Crouch may have _believed_ himself to be acting upon You-Know-Who's orders-but to take the word of a lunatic like that, Dumbledore…"

"When Harry touched the Triwizard Cup tonight, he was transported straight to Voldemort." Dumbledore explained. "He witnessed Lord Voldemort's rebirth. I will explain it all to you it you will step up to my office."

Dumbledore glanced toward Harry's bed, which everyone was still surrounding. "I am afraid I cannot permit you to question Harry tonight."

Fudge's curious smile was still in place as he glanced at Harry's bed, and then back at Dumbledore. "You are-er-prepared to take Harry's word on this, are you, Dumbledore?"

There was a moment of silence and Anna noticed her mother stand up and whisper in her father's ear to, "Calm down."

"Certainly, I believe Harry." Dumbledore said. "I heard Crouch's confession, and I heard Harry's account of what happened after he touched the Triwizard Cup, the two stories make sense, they explain everything that had happened since Bertha Jorkins disappeared last summer."

Fudge was still wearing that stupid smile as he once again glanced at Harry. "You are prepared to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, on the word of a lunatic murderer, and a boy who…well…"

"You've been reading Rita Skeeter, Mr. Fudge." Harry's quiet voice caused all the Blacks and Weasleys to jump. They hadn't noticed him sitting up in his bed, his glasses back on his nose.

Fudge flushed slightly, but he looked defiant.

"And if I have?" he asked, looking back to Dumbledore. "If I have discovered that you've been keeping certain facts about the boy very quiet? A Parselmouth, eh? And having funny turns all over the place-"

"I assume you are referring to the pains Harry has been experiencing in his scar?" guessed Dumbledore coolly.

"You admit that he has been having these pains, then?" said Fudge quickly. "Headaches? Nightmares? Possibly-hallucinations?"

"Listen to me, Cornelius." Dumbledore insisted, taking a step toward Fudge. "Harry is as sane as you or I. That scar upon his forehead has not addled his brains. I believe it hurts him when Lord Voldemort is close by, or feeling particularly murderous."

Fudge stepped back from Dumbledore, but still looked defiant.

"You'll forgive me, Dumbledore, but I've never heard of a curse scar acting as an alarm bell before…"

"Look, I saw Voldemort come back!" Harry shouted. He tried getting out of the bed, but Molly and Wren gently pushed him back down. "I saw the Death Eaters! I can give you their names! Lucius Malfoy-"

Anna tensed, clutching at Fred's hand.

"Malfoy was cleared!" Fudge insisted, visibly affronted. "A very old family-donations to excellent causes-"

"Macnair!" Harry added.

"Also cleared! Now working for the Ministry!"

"Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle-"

"You are merely repeating the names of those who were acquitted of being Death Eaters thirteen years ago!" Fudge shouted angrily. "You could have found those names in old reports of the trials! For heaven's sake, Dumbledore-his tales are getting taller, and you're still swallowing them. The boy can talk to snakes, Dumbledore, and you still think he's trustworthy?"

"You fool!" Professor McGonagall cried. "Cedric Diggory! Mr. Crouch! These deaths were not the random work of a lunatic!"

"I see no evidence to the contrary!" Fudge shouted in return, his face turning purple. "It seems to me that you are all determined to start a panic that will destabilize everything we have worked for these last thirteen years!"

"Voldemort has returned." Dumbledore stated calmly. "If you accept that fact straightaway, Fudge, and take the necessary measures, we may still be able to save the situation. The first and most essential step is to remove Azkaban from the control of the dementors-"

"Preposterous!" Fudge shouted. "Remove the dementors! I'd be kicked out of office for suggesting it! Half of us only feel safe in our beds at night because we know the dementors are standing guard at Azkaban!"

"The rest of us sleep less soundly in our beds, Cornelius, knowing that you have put Lord Voldemort's most dangerous supporters in the care of creatures who will join him the instant he asks them!" Dumbledore insisted. "They will not remain loyal to you, Fudge! Voldemort can offer them much more scope for their powers and their pleasures than you can! With the dementors behind him, and his old supporters returned to him, you will be hard-pressed to stop him regaining the sort of power he had thirteen years ago!"

Fudge was opening and closing his mouth like a fish.

"The second step you must take-and at once," Dumbledore pressed on, "is to send envoys to the giants."

"Envoys to the giants?" Fudge shrieked. "What madness is this?"

"Extend them the hand of friendship, now, before it is too late or Voldemort will persuade them, as he did before, that he alone among wizards will give them their rights and their freedom."

"You-you cannot be serious!" Fudge gasped, shaking his head and retreating from the headmaster. "If the magical community got wind that I had approached the giants-people hate them, Dumbledore-end of my career-"

"You are blinded," Dumbledore spoke, his voice growing louder than Anna had ever heard. The air around them seemed to cackle with his power as he fixed blazing eyes on Fudge, "by the love of the office you hold, Cornelius! You place too much importance, and you always have done, on the so-called purity of blood! You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be! Your dementor has just destroyed the last remaining member of a pure-blood family as old as any-and see what that man chose to make of his life! I tell you now-take the steps I have suggested, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the bravest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever known. Fail to act-and history will remember you as the man who stepped aside and allowed Voldemort a second chance to destroy the world we have tried to rebuild!"

"Insane." Fudge whispered, still backing away. "Mad…"

Silence fell over the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey, who was standing at the foot of Harry's bed, had her hands over her mouth. Sirius still had a hand on Anna's shoulder and an arm around Wren's waist. Wren and Molly were both standing with a hand on each of Harry's shoulders. Anna, Fred, George, Bill, Ron, and Hermione were all staring expectantly at Fudge.

"If your determination to shut your eyes will carry you as far as this, Cornelius," Dumbledore continued, "we have reached a parting of the ways. You must act as you see fit. And I-I shall act as I see fit."

While that statement made by anyone else would've sounded like a threat, it didn't give that feeling coming from Dumbledore. It sounded like a mere statement. Fudge, however, bristled as if he'd just been threatened.

"Now, see here, Dumbledore," he said, waving a finger, "I've given you free rein, always. I've had a lot of respect for you. I might not have agreed with some of your decisions, but I've kept quiet. There aren't many who'd have let you hire werewolves, or keep Hagrid, or decide what to teach your students without reference to the Ministry. But if you're going to work against me-"

"The only one against whom I intend to work is Lord Voldemort. If you are against him, then we remain, Cornelius, on the same side." Dumbledore stated simply.

Fudge rocked back and forth on his feet, seemingly at a loss for words. Finally, he spoke in a quiet plea, "He can't be back, Dumbledore, he just can't be…"

Shockingly, Snape marched past Dumbledore, pulling up his left sleeve as he went. He then thrust his forearm out to show Fudge, who recoiled.

"There." said Snape harshly. "There. The Dark Mark. It is not as clear as it was an hour or so ago, when it burned black, but you can still see it. Every Death Eater had the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord. It was a means of distinguishing one another, and his means of summoning us to him. When he touched the Mark of any Death Eater, we were to Disapparate, and Apparate, instantly at his side. This mark has been growing clearer all year. Karkaroff's too. Why do you think Karkaroff fled tonight? We both felt the Mark burn. We both knew he had returned. Karkaroff fears the Dark Lord's vengeance. He betrayed too many of his fellow Death Eaters to be sure of a welcome back into the fold."

Anna stared at the back of Snape's head in shock. Sure, her father had mentioned he wouldn't be surprised if Snape had been a Death Eater, but to hear it confirmed…

Fudge appeared even more shocked. He backed away from Snape, shaking his head as he stared in disgust at the horrible mark on Snape's arm. Finally, he looked back to Dumbledore. "I don't know what you and your staff are playing at, Dumbledore, but I have heard enough. I have no more to add. I will be in touch with you tomorrow, Dumbledore, to discuss the running of this school. I must return to the Ministry."

Fudge turned and almost made it to the door when he paused. He turned around and strode back toward Harry's bed. Anna felt her dad tense at her side when Fudge stopped.

"You winnings." he said shortly, pulling a large bag of gold from his pocket and dropping it onto Harry's bedside table. "One thousand Galleons. There should have been a presentation ceremony, but under the circumstances…"

Cramming his bowler hat back onto his head, he turned and walked out of the hospital wing, slamming the door behind him. The moment the door was shut, Dumbledore turned back to face everyone in the room.

"There is work to be done." he announced, "Molly…am I right in thinking that I can count on you and Arthur?"

"Of course you can." Molly answered. Her face was very pale, but she looked determined. "We know what Fudge is. It's Arthur's fondness for Muggles that has held him back at the Ministry all these years. Fudge thinks he lacks proper wizarding pride."

"Then I need to send a message to Arthur." Dumbledore continued, "All those that we can persuade of the truth must be notified immediately, and he is well placed to contact those at the Ministry who are not as shortsighted as Cornelius."

"I'll go to Dad." Bill volunteered, standing up. "I'll go now."

"Excellent." said Dumbledore. "Tell him what has happened. Tell him I will be in direct contact with him shortly. He will need to be discreet, however. If Fudge thinks I am interfering at the Ministry-"

"Leave it to me."

Bill clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder, kissed his mother on the cheek, pulled on his cloak, and strode quickly from the room.

"Minerva," Dumbledore turned to McGonagall, "I want to see Hagrid in my office as soon as possible. Also-if she will consent to come-Madame Maxime."

McGonagall nodded silently and left as well.

"Poppy, would you be very kind to go down to Professor Moody's office, where I think you will find a house-elf called Winky in considerable distress? Do what you can for her, and take her back to the kitchens. I think Dobby will look after her for us."

"Very-very well." Madam Pomfrey stuttered, looking shocked as she, too, left.

"Before we do anything else, some differences need to be set aside. Sirius, Severus." Dumbledore waved Sirius toward where he was standing with Snape.

Anna glanced quickly up at her father, whose eyes went cold as they glared at Snape with undisguised hatred. Wren whispered something to him and he slowly walked around the bed until he stood facing Snape, who was glaring at him with as much hatred.

"It is time for the two of you to lay aside your old differences and trust each other."

Anna almost scoffed. That would be near impossible. The two hated each other way too much.

"I will settle, in the short term," Dumbledore continued impatiently after several moments of nothing, "for a lack of open hostility. You will shake hands. You are on the same side now. Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth stand united, there is no hope for any of us."

Still glaring at each other, the two moved as if in slow motion. Sirius and Snape moved toward each other and shook hands, letting go as if they were electrocuted.

"That will do to be going on with." Dumbledore said, stepping between the two once again. "Now I have work for each of you. Fudge's attitude, though not unexpected, changes everything. Sirius, I need you to set off at once. You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher-the old crowd. Then you may return home, and I will contact you again soon."

"But-" Harry sat up more, looking unhappy at the thought of his godfather leaving already. Anna felt much the same.

"You'll see me very soon, Harry." Sirius assured him, turning back to face him. "I promise you. But I must do what I can, you understand, don't you?"

"Yeah." Harry agreed. "Yeah…of course I do."

Sirius grasped his hand briefly and hugged his wife. Anna stood up quickly and hugged her dad tightly.

"I'll see you at the platform, Belle." Sirius whispered in her ear, kissing her on the forehead before pulling away. He nodded to Dumbledore before leaving the room.

When the door swung shut again, Dumbledore turned to Snape. "Severus, you know what I must ask you to do. If you are ready…if you are prepared…"

"I am." Snape answered.

Anna silently thought he didn't look very 'ready'. He was paler then usual.

"Then good luck." Dumbledore told him, and watched apprehensively as Snape swept wordlessly out of the room.

It was awkwardly silent for several minutes before Dumbledore spoke again.

"I must go downstairs." he finally said. "I must see the Diggorys. Harry-take the rest of your potion. I will see all of you later."

Everyone watched as Dumbledore left. Harry slumped back into his pillows, and everyone looked down at him, no one speaking for a long time.

"Why don't you take the rest of your potion, Harry." Wren told him, sitting back down in her chair.

"Yes, and have a good long sleep." Molly agreed, her hand brushing the sack of gold when she grabbed the bottle of potion and goblet. "Try and think of something else for a while…think about what you're going to buy with your winnings!"

"I don't want that gold." Harry muttered in an expressionless voice. "You have it. Anyone can have it. I shouldn't have won it. It should've been Cedric's."

Anna exchanged a glance with Fred and George, her stomach clenching and throat closing. When she turned back to Harry, she saw that he was staring up at the ceiling and his green eyes were shining with tears.

"It wasn't your fault, Harry." Molly whispered as Wren brushed his hair from his forehead again.

"I told him to take the cup with me." was Harry's answer.

Wren swallowed thickly before bending down and putting her arms around Harry, holding him close. Harry put his face into her shoulder, and Anna could just see his forehead wrinkle up, his face probably scrunching up to fight off more tears.

There was a loud slamming sound, causing everyone to jump and look around, Harry and Wren pulling away from each other. Hermione was standing by the window, holding something tightly in her hand.

"Sorry." she whispered.

"Your potion, Harry." Molly ordered quickly, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand.

Harry took the goblet from her and drank it in one gulp. Instantly, he fell back against his pillow and fell asleep.

Everyone sat in silence for several moments before Anna slowly stood up. "I'm just going to use the loo." she whispered, walking around the bed and out the door, ignoring the stares burning into her back.

After she rounded the corner and entered the corridor, she stopped and leaned back against the cold wall. Her head fell back against the wall, her eyes falling closed as she slid down to sit on the floor.

There was a thump next to her as the hospital wing doors were closed. "We figured you weren't really going to the loo." a familiar voice stated knowingly as two sets of footsteps approached her and two familiar bodies sat on either side of her. Opening her eyes, Anna didn't even turn to look at either twin, she simply stared ahead at the other side of the corridor.

"How you holding up?" Fred asked quietly.

"I don't know." she admitted.

"Join the club." George muttered, making Anna crack a small smile.

"If he's back,…we're going to have another war, aren't we?" she whispered.

"Probably." they answered quietly.

"People are going to die." she added.

"Probably." they said again. Fred shifted his arm over her shoulders and pulled her into his side.

"But you need to remember," Fred continued on his own, "we're in this together. Friends, family,…that's all that matters. We've got each other's backs. As long as we stick together, we'll be fine."

Anna nodded, leaning her head on his shoulder. "And we'll need a lot of laughs." she added, looking over at George and then up at Fred. They both grinned at her.

"Well, you're talking to the right people." George told her.

Anna's smile softened. "Promise we'll stick together? No matter what?"

They both smiled down at her. Fred kissed her head while George reached over and held her hand in his. "We promise."


	29. Evil Returned

Dumbledore spoke to the whole school the next morning at breakfast, basically telling everyone to leave Harry alone and not question him about what happened in the maze. When Harry eventually got out of the hospital wing, people avoided him in the corridors and whispered about him, mostly throwing around their own stupid theories about Cedric's death. When Annabelle checked on Harry, he didn't seem to care about what everyone else thought.

The day before the leaving feast, Anna approached where Harry was sitting for lunch in the Great Hall, sitting down across from him.

"Hi. How's your day?" she asked, getting some food on her plate.

"Boring." he muttered.

Anna bit her lip, staring down at her plate. "So,…I got a letter from my parents this morning."

When she finally peaked up at him, she saw that he was staring at her, wide-eyed and hopeful. "And?"

Anna sighed. "You're not going to like it, and I don't like it, and I don't understand why I'm the one telling you, but…Anyway,…it's about this summer."

"Just spit it out already, please." Harry pleaded impatiently.

"Apparently,…you have to go back to your aunt and uncle's house for a while this summer." Anna told him quietly.

"What?" Harry breathed, looking like he'd been punched in the gut.

"My parents don't like it, either." she quickly told him. "It was Dumbledore's idea. I don't entirely know his reasoning, but I guess you're safer at your aunt and uncle's house, some kind of…protective magic or something. I don't entirely understand what it is. But my parents hate the idea and fought Dumbledore tooth and nail, my dad was really angry about it. But…I guess the decision's been made. Dumbledore won't budge. But he did say that after some things have been set up, someone will pick you up and bring you home."

Harry nodded slowly, staring down at his plate. "Okay." he whispered. "Thanks."

Anna grimaced. "Don't thank me. I didn't do anything, just brought you crappy news. But don't worry, I'm sure things will be worked out soon enough that we'll be able to get you out of there again soon."

XXX

The leaving feast looked depressing before it even started. It was quieter than normal, and the Great Hall, instead of being decorated in a House's colors, had black draped on the wall behind the teacher's table. The real Mad-Eye Moody was up at the staff table, looking extremely twitchy and jumping whenever he was spoken to. Karkaroff's chair was empty, and Anna guessed out loud to the twins that he must've fled. Madame Maxime and Hagrid were sitting together, whispering about something that seemed very serious.

The dismal mood made Anna not hungry, but she forced a small plate of food down to keep the twins from getting worried.

When everyone finished eating, Dumbledore stood up and the already-quiet chatter fell silent. He stared around at them all before finally speaking.

"The end of another year." He paused as his eyes fell on the Hufflepuff table, all of whom had been the most subdued with sad, pale faces since the night of the third task. "There is much that I would like to say to you all tonight, but I must first acknowledge the loss of a very fine person, who should be sitting here," he continued, gesturing toward the Hufflepuffs, "enjoying our feast with us. I would like you all, please, to stand, and raise your glasses, to Cedric Diggory."

Benches scraped the stone ground as everyone stood up. Anna stood from her spot between Fred and George, raising her goblet alongside her fellow students. In one low, rumbling voice, everyone in the Great Hall spoke the name, "Cedric Diggory."

As everyone returned to their seats, Dumbledore continued, "Cedric was a person who exemplified many of the qualities that distinguish Hufflepuff House. He was a good and loyal friend, a hard worker, he valued fair play. His death has affected you all, whether you knew him well or not. I think that you have the right, therefore, to know exactly how it came about." There was a pause, and Anna instinctively grabbed Fred and George's hands, already having an idea where this was going.

"Cedric Diggory was murdered by Lord Voldemort." Dumbledore's blunt announcement caused panicked whispers to sweep the Hall, students everywhere staring up at him in horror. Dumbledore, however, remained calm until they fell silent once again. "The Ministry of Magic does not wish me to tell you this. It is possible that some of your parents will be horrified that I have done so-either because they will not believe that Lord Voldemort has returned, or because they think I should not tell you so, young as you are. It is my belief, however, that the truth is generally preferable to lies, and that any attempt to pretend that Cedric died as the result of an accident, or some sort of blunder of his own, is an insult to his memory.

"There is somebody else who must be mentioned in connection with Cedric's death." Dumbledore continued, "I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter."

There was a sort of ripple over the crowd as many people turned to briefly look at Harry sitting at the Gryffindor table before turning back to face Dumbledore.

"Harry Potter managed to escape Lord Voldemort. He risked his own life to return Cedric's body to Hogwarts. He showed, in every respect, the sort of bravery that few wizards have ever shown in facing Lord Voldemort, and for this, I honor him."

Dumbledore turned and looked gravely down the Hall at Harry and raised his goblet once more. Anna and nearly everyone else in the Hall stood up and followed suit, murmuring his name and drinking to him. However, through the gap of standing figures, Anna could see many of the Slytherins remaining in their seats defiantly. Dumbledore continued when everyone was sitting again.

"The Triwizard Tournament's aim was to further and promote magical understanding. In the light of what has happened-of Lord Voldemort's return-such ties are more important than ever before." Here, he looked from Hagrid and Madame Maxime, to the Beauxbatons sitting at the Ravenclaw table, to the Durmstrangs at the Slytherin table. "Every guest in this Hall," he said, his gaze lingering on the Durmstrangs, "will be welcomed back here at any time, should they wish to come. I say to you all, once again-in the light of Lord Voldemort's return, we are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. Lord Voldemort's gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.

"It is my belief-and never have I so hoped that I am mistaken-that we are all facing dark and difficult times. Some of you in this Hall have already suffered directly at the hands of Lord Voldemort." Anna looked down at the table. "Many of your families have been torn asunder. A week ago, a student was taken from our midst. Remember Cedric. Remember, if the time should come when you have to make a choice between what is right and what is easy, remember what happened to a boy who was good, and kind, and brave, because he strayed across the path of Lord Voldemort. Remember Cedric Diggory."

XXX

"Wanna sit with Harry, Ron, and Hermione?" Anna asked as they got on the train.

"Can we kick Ron out of the compartment?" George joked.

They made their way down the corridor as the train started moving, heading toward King's Cross Station in London. As they wandered down the train, she saw Malfoy and his goons standing in the doorway of a compartment, undoubtedly causing trouble. As they got closer, their words became clearer.

"You've picked the losing side, Potter!" Malfoy was gloating. "I warned you! I told you, you ought to choose your company more carefully, remember? When we met on the train, first day at Hogwarts? I told you not to hang around with riffraff like this!" he added with a jerk of his head. When Anna stopped almost behind them, she peaked in the window and saw Ron and Hermione also in the compartment, as she guessed.

"Too late now, Potter! They'll be the first to go, now the Dark Lord's back! Mudbloods and Muggle-lovers first!" Anna pulled her wand from her pocket, noticing the twins doing the same on either side of her. "Well-second-Diggory was the f-"

That did it. A blaze of spells from every direction flew at Malfoy and his friends, loud bangs and flashes echoing in the corridor.

When Anna could see properly again, she looked down at the floor. Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle were lying unconscious in the doorway of the compartment. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were standing inside the compartment, wands in their hands.

"Thought we'd see what those three were up to." Fred stated matter-of-factly, stepping on Goyle and into the compartment, wand still in hand. Anna followed him inside, making sure to step on Malfoy's slick blonde hair. George followed in last.

"Interesting effect." George commented, looking down at Crabbe. "Who used the Furnunculous Curse?"

"Me." Harry answered.

"Odd." George commented lightly. "I used Jelly-Legs. Looks as though those two shouldn't be mixed. He seems to have sprouted little tentacles all over his face. Well, let's not leave them here, they don't add much to the décor."

Ron, Harry, and George kicked, rolled, and pushed the three unconscious Slytherins into the corridor, all of which looked worse for wear from the multiple jinxes they'd been hit with. The three Gryffindor guys came back into the compartment and slid the door shut.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Fred offered, pulling a pack of cards from his pocket as Anna sat between him and Hermione.

Halfway through their fifth game, Harry turned to George.

"You going to tell us, then? Who you were blackmailing?"

Anna bit her lip and glanced between Fred and George, whose smiles had dropped.

"Oh. _That_." George muttered darkly.

"It doesn't matter." Fred shook his head impatiently. "It wasn't anything important. Not now, anyway."

"We've given up." George said with a shrug.

The younger trio continued asking until Fred eventually gave in. "Alright, alright, if you really want to know…it was Ludo Bagman."

"Bagman." Harry repeated sharply. "Are you saying he was involved in-"

"Nah. Nothing like that." George answered gloomily. "Stupid git. He wouldn't have the brains."

"Well, what, then?" Ron insisted.

Fred hesitated, glancing at Anna and George. They both nodded and he turned back to the younger students. "You remember that bet we had with him at the Quidditch World Cup? About how Ireland would win, but Krum would get the Snitch?"

Harry and Ron nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"Well, the git paid us in leprechaun gold he'd caught from the Irish mascots."

"So?"

"So," Fred bit impatiently, "it vanished, didn't it? By next morning, it had gone!"

"But-it must've been an accident, mustn't it?" Hermione insisted.

George laughed bitterly. "Yeah, that's what we thought, as first. We thought if we just wrote to him, and told him he'd made a mistake, he'd cough up. But nothing doing. Ignored our letter. We kept trying to talk to him about it at Hogwarts, but he was always making some excuse to get away from us."

"In the end, he turned pretty nasty." Fred continued, "Told us we were too young to gamble, and he wasn't giving us anything."

George glowered. "So we asked for our money back."

"He didn't refuse!" Hermione gasped.

"Right in one." Fred nodded.

"But that was all your savings!" Ron exclaimed.

"Tell me about it." George agreed. "'Course, we found out what was going on in the end. Lee Jordan's dad had a bit of trouble getting money off Bagman as well. Turns out he's in big trouble with the goblins. Borrowed loads of gold off them. A gang of them cornered him in the woods after the World Cup and took all the gold he had, and it still wasn't enough to cover all his debts. They followed him all the way to Hogwarts to keep an eye on him. He's lost everything gambling. Hasn't got two Galleons to rub together. And you know how the idiot tried to pay the goblins back?"

"How?" Harry asked.

"He put a bet on you, mate." Fred answered. "Put a big bet on you to win the tournament. Bet against the goblins."

"So _that's_ why he kept trying to help me win! Well-I did win, didn't I? So he can pay you your gold!"

"Nope." George shook his head. "The goblins play as dirty as him. They say you drew with Diggory, and Bagman was betting you'd win outright. So Bagman had to run for it. He did run for it right after the third task." George sighed deeply and started dealing out cards again.

The rest of the journey passed rather pleasantly. They played several more rounds of Exploding Snap, Anna resting her feet in George's lap and leaning back against Fred's side. All too soon, though, the train pulled into the platform and slowed to a stop.

Anna stood up and made to follow Ron and Hermione, who were climbing out of the compartment and over Malfoy and his goons.

"Fred-George-wait a moment." Harry said.

Anna looked over her shoulder, seeing the twins looking back at Harry as he dug around in his trunk.

"Do you want me to leave?" Anna asked uncertainly.

"No, you can stay." Harry muttered before he finally found what he was looking for. He pulled his sack of gold from the trunk. "Take it." he ordered, thrusting the sack into George's hands.

"What?" Fred asked, completely flabbergasted. Anna's eyes went wide as she stood next to George, looking between Harry and his winnings.

"Take it." Harry repeated firmly. "I don't want it."

"You're mental." George told him, trying to push the sack back at him.

"No, I'm not. You take it, and get inventing. It's for the joke shop."

"He _is_ mental." Fred repeated in an almost awed voice.

"Listen. If you don't take it, I'm throwing it down the drain. I don't want it and I don't need it. But I could do with a few laughs. We could all do with a few laughs. I've got a feeling we're going to need them more than usual before long." Harry told him seriously, voicing the same things Anna had been thinking for a while.

"Harry," George started weakly, weighing the bag in his hands, "there's got to be a thousand Galleons in here."

"Yeah." Harry grinned, one of the select few Anna had seen from him since Cedric's death. "Think how many Canary Creams that is." The twins stared at him, at a loss for words. "Just don't tell your mum where you got it…although she might not be so keen for you to join the Ministry anymore, come to think of it…"

Anna smiled weakly.

"Harry," Fred started, but Harry pulled his wand out.

"Look," he said flatly, "take it, or I'll hex you. I know some good ones now. Just do me one favor, okay? Buy Ron some different dress robes and say they're from you."

Anna's smile widened as she looked over at the twins, and she couldn't wipe it from her face.

"Harry-thanks." George finally muttered, while Fred nodded vigorously at his side.

They all turned and got off the train and went through the barrier. They found Ron and Hermione with the Weasleys and Blacks. Harry's aunt and uncle were standing several feet away, looking awkward and impatient.

"Hey, Harry." Anna whispered before they got too close. "What you did back there-for the twins? That was really great. You didn't have to do that."

Harry shrugged with a small smile. "Might as well put that money to good use."

Anna followed Harry and the twins over to their parents. Molly pulled the twins into a quick hug while Wren hugged Harry, who seemed grateful for the motherly embrace.

"We're sorry, Harry. Dumbledore insists you'll be safer with your aunt and uncle for a while." Wren told him before she pulled away, her hands on his shoulders. "But we'll get you out as soon as possible. We're all figuring a few things out, but you'll be out of there sometime during the summer."

Harry nodded, hugging Sirius tightly.

A warm hand gently grabbed Anna's and she turned to look up at Fred, their fingers threading together.

"We're hanging out sometime this summer." he stated bluntly, leaving no room for debate, not that Anna wanted to debate.

"Absolutely. I'll have to owl you sometime and we'll figure something out." Anna agreed easily.

"I look forward to it." Fred told her with a grin. His brown eyes stared into her gray ones before he leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. Anna smiled, letting her eyes close and tightening her grip on his hand. She felt his fingers softly brush her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Ahem."

They pulled away and Anna blushed when she realized everyone in their families that were present were staring at them. Molly and Wren were beaming at them, Ginny, Hermione, Harry, Ron, and George were smirking, and Sirius was glaring at Fred.

Fred cleared his throat. "Sorry about that. Just saying goodbye."

"I hope I don't have to say goodbye to you like that, Anna." George smirked, glancing between his twin and his best friend. Anna glared at him.

"Shut up, George."

 **XXX**

 **And that's the end of** _ **Family of Courage**_ **. Sorry this last chapter was so short, but let me know what you thought. The third and final installment is titled** _ **War of Courage**_ **, which I shall be posting the first chapter of right after this one, so go check it out. : )**


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